


The Only One

by Rinienne



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Bickering, Crime Fighting, Demisexuality, Fuck Or Die, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Romance, Sex Pollen, nonbinary characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-12 04:11:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 46,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7085107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinienne/pseuds/Rinienne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was nothing funny about a NEXT ability which made some people lose their minds to lust, especially while it had such deadly consequences. Others were not affected by it the same way, but what was the difference between the two groups was a question yet unanswered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Barnaby x Kotetsu and Kotetsu x Barnaby. The non-con tag is not for the main characters. The prologue and epilogue are from OC's POV, the rest of the story is from Barnaby's POV. No beta, so I'm pretty sure it has some stupid typos, so if someone wants to beta, I would appreciate.
> 
> I'm not super proud of this one, but meh.

**Prologue**

Winter this year was approaching rapidly. The cool air of a November night felt almost icy, creeping under a thick layer of fleece as if it was the thinnest of silks. The tall buildings towering over the narrow street were protecting from the wind, but the deep shadows they were throwing onto the ground, blocking the faint glow of the moonlight, were enough to make Alex shiver from more than just cold.

Now and then, it was possible to come across street lights, plucked on either side of the road, but they were far apart from each other and the areas in between were almost pitch black. The light they were giving out was a shade of sickly-yellow, which only added to the eeriness of the place.

Without a conscious thought, Alex moved closer to his companion, their shoulders almost bumping.

“Are you that cold?” A soft voice chuckled, a beautiful face framed in black, wavy hair turning to look at him. There was a gentle smile on Namila’s face, which Alex could see despite the almost darkness. That smile did funny things to his stomach and managed to bring heat to his cheeks, making the cold night more bearable.

“On edge a little,” Alex confessed, rubbing the back of his neck. “With everything happening around here lately.”

They passed one of the lights and Alex saw Namila raising an eyebrow. “I heard it too,” she said nodding. “A few people were found dead several blocks away.” She frowned then, as if pondering about something. “To think something like this is happening here, it’s difficult to believe.”

Alex sighed, squeezing Namila’s hand a little tighter. They’d been living in this area of Bronze Stage since both of them were little kids. It was a nice place, quiet. A few small crimes were happening from time to time, but nothing major enough to attract the attention of the First League heroes. Several dead bodies found with little to no explanation of the cause were enough to bring the neighborhood to a state of almost panic.

“We’d better hurry,” Alex said picking up his pace.

Soon they reached a wider street, rows of three to five stories tall buildings surrounding a two-way street. It was brighter that the alleyway, the light of the lampposts warmer and somehow more inviting, illuminating the paved with red brick sidewalks pleasant orange. Above the street, thousands of lights shone brightly from the higher levels of the city, the Silver and Gold Stages rising overhead in all their majesty.

There were lights behind the windows of most of the apartments too, the time of the day not late enough for the people living there to be sleeping yet, but the street itself was completely empty. The only soul they passed as they walked towards Namila’s home was some drunkard in a dark brown coat who appeared to be arguing with a door, attempting to punch a passcode into the lock. Whether he simply couldn’t coordinate his fingers to press the buttons because of his state, or it wasn’t even the right door, Alex didn’t know, and doubted he really wanted to find out.

Namila spared the drunken man a glance and pulled Alex’ hand, dragging him away until the man was out of their sight. “I hope he isn’t trouble,” she whispered. “You’ll have to go back that way again to get home.”

“I doubt he could hurt anyone in this condition,” Alex sighed. “If anything I can run pretty fast,” he added in a chuckle.

Namila bit her lower lip, her gaze lowering towards the ground, as if she was musing over something, but she remained silent. Only when they neared her house, the girl spoke again. “You know, I worry about you going home alone,” she said. “Maybe you should stay at my place tonight?”

Alex felt another wave of butterflies in his stomach and gulped. It wouldn’t have been the first time he stayed at Namila’s place, but every other time it had happened her parents were home too. Tonight her apartment was empty, however, her parents staying a night shift at the hospital where they worked. He knew Namila didn’t meant the invitation as anything suggestive, but he simply didn’t trust himself not to make an advance of such nature, while he knew his girlfriend wasn’t ready.

“I will be fine,” he smiled reassuringly as they approached the staircase leading to the the house she lived in. “It’s not too far.”

She watched him appraisingly, a doubt clearly reading in her expression. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m quite sure,” Alex nodded. He leaned in, determined to kiss her cheek, but she moved her head just so, his lips meeting hers. It was only a few seconds long, but it left them grinning widely at each-other as they parted.

“Please be careful,” she almost pleaded, turning to walk to the door.

“I will,” Alex replied waving his hand goodbye.

He watched Namila disappearing behind the wooden set of doors and turned around starting to walk towards his own home, a wide smile never leaving his face. He’d known his girlfriend for a very long time, but it’d been only several months since they started dating. Yet, even in this short period of time, Alex had no doubt he was completely and utterly in love.

He felt light as he walked down the sidewalk, any thought of recent spike in the criminal activities and the recent deaths in the area completely disappearing from his mind. He passed the drunken man again, who seemed to give up on getting inside the building, settling next to the entryway, leaning on the wall. He looked asleep and now, when the man’s face was turned towards the sidewalk, Alex noted him to be familiar somehow, even if he couldn’t put a finger as to where he could’ve seen him.

The man muttered something about bunnies as Alex passed him, his words turning into a barely audible snore in the end. Sparing him the last glance, Alex continued to walk, soon finding the street around him completely deserted again.

A gust of wind rushed over the sidewalk, making Alex huddle further into the hoodie, his chin burying into the soft fabric of its collar. Even then, he found himself shivering again, missing the warmth of his home he was going to reach very soon.

The shadows his body was throwing on the paved ground were growing into several directions under his feet. With passive curiosity he watched some of them becoming bleaker and more faded as he moved from one street light to the other, while others appeared to grow.

His lips stretched into a frown as Alex noticed one of the shadows not belonging to him. It was long, stretching from somewhere behind, approaching him more and more rapidly with each step he took. Alex’ heart began beating faster, fear settling in him. He wondered if it was a mistake to dismiss the drunken man on the street as easy as he did, that he was only pretending to be inebriated, waiting until Alex was alone.

“What a gorgeous young lady as yourself doing all alone here this late?” a soft voice behind Alex asked, making the boy almost tremble.

There was not even a hint of slurring in his speech, common for people under alcoholic influence, which had only spired Alex’ fear. His mind began racing, hundreds of different ways this encounter could go wrong appearing in his mind. He wondered about running, but it would only anger the guy following him. If by any chance he was faster than Alex, if would only end in a disaster.

“I live very close from here, just walking home,” Alex replied, deciding to stall for time. With luck, he could keep up the conversation until his house would appear in the view.

“Ah, I see,” the voice said. “I also live in the area, would you by any chance want to come up for a drink?”

The person behind appeared closer this time, moving to walk by Alex’ side. Glancing into his direction the boy noted him wearing jeans and a fluffy parka jacket that seemed either green or khaki in color. It wasn’t the drunken man a few houses away, but the realization didn’t help to settle Alex’ stomach, which was twisting itself in knots.

“I’m sorry, I’m not old enough to be drinking,” Alex said, hoping that bringing up his age would ward the attempts to hit on him.

“That’s alright, I have tea and milk. Do you like milk?” The man asked, his arm reaching to slip around Alex’ waist.

“Please, sir,” Alex pleaded almost jumping away from the guy, the fear in him turning into dread panic. “I just want to get home, that’s all.”

The man moved in front of him, blocking his way and, glancing up on his face, Alex could see hunger in his eyes, an expression that terrified him to the point it almost brought tears to his eyes.

He couldn’t run past him, the only way left was to go back, or across the street. There was nothing back, but his girlfriend’s house and the drunken man on the porch. Alex doubted he could make it back to Namila and there was no way the drunkard could be of any help. That only left him with an option of running across the street in a hope he was fast enough to go around.

Before he could bolt, however, he saw faint blue light spreading onward from the figure of the man. It was too late to move away, the light touching Alex, making him feel suddenly weak and lightheaded. WIth a groan, Alex fell to his knees, his vision blurring. He shook his head, trying to see the man stepping closer, trying to protest his approach.

Only the words of complaint had never managed to get past his lips, because now Alex realized how ridiculously handsome the man in front of him was. His expression was kind, brown hair falling onto his face, almost covering one of his eyes.

Distantly, Alex wondered why he was even attempting to struggle. His body trembled, but it wasn’t unpleasant. On the contrary, it was the most wonderful sensation Alex had ever known. He’d experienced it before, sometimes when his kiss with Namila lasted a second too long, or she looked at him in this particular manner that had never failed to bring Alex’ heart into an overload.

Only this time it was so much stronger, uncontrollable. He looked at the man before him, wondering how would it feel to press their lips together, how would the man’s hand feel roaming over Alex’ body, what would it like to be pressed flush against him.

“Come on, let me bring you home,” the man smiled offering Alex his hand.

Alex reached out, desperately wanting to take it, but something snapped in him the last moment. “No,” he groaned. “No, don’t touch me,” he almost yelled. It wasn’t right, he didn’t want the man whose name he didn’t even know. The only person he wished to be touched by this way was Namila. It was her kisses that Alex craved, her tender affection.

“What? How are you still able to resist?”  the man surprised starting to glow again. “Come on, don’t struggle,” he chuckled. “I promise you will like it.”

Alex looked the guy in the eyes, his vision blurring as tears started to run down his cheeks. It was pointless, he had no strength to resist anymore. He raised his hand, trying to reach out for the guy, to touch him.

“Hey you!” someone yelled from the side of them, their voice ending in a loud hiccup. “Get away from her!”

Alex turned his head seeing the same drunkard from earlier. He stood on the corner of the street and an alleyway, his finger pointing in their direction, his other hand perched on his hip. Alex though the man would've look somewhat intimidating if he wasn’t swaying a little from side to side, visibly having difficulties staying upright.

The guy next to Alex clicked his tongue and spun into action. He dashed forward, towards Alex with open arms, most likely intending to grab him, but before he reached his target, something wooshed between them, a small metal object flying past Alex’ eyes, a thin wire attached to it. It passed both of them hitting a window in one of the buildings, the sound of shattering glass too loud for the quiet night.

That set a whole different kind of commotion, the lights behind the window the metal object hit litting up. The man next to Alex let out a curse and jumped away, turning to face his drunken opponent, his body starting to glow for the third time.

Alex moved backwards falling from his knees, completely flat onto his rear, trying to get away from both of them. He watched the blue flash flying straight towards the drunk man, hitting him, the drunkard trembling as if from electrical shock, starting to fall to his knees, gasping.

Finishing dealing with the intervention, Alex’ assaulter started to turn around. At least Alex though he did, because using the distraction to his advantage, he bolted away from the scene, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

**Part 1**

Parking his car next to a tall, white building of a police station, Barnaby exited the vehicle. He stretched and eyed the place with a sense of annoyance slowly growing in him, but pushed the feeling away, concentrating on finishing his business here as fast as he could.

The area before the station was busy, dozens of people in uniforms exiting and entering the building. Some of them greeted Barnaby with smiles and friendly nods, as if they were old acquaintances, yet none of their faces seemed familiar to him. Still, Barnaby made sure to smile and greet back, if not out of politeness, at least because he couldn’t allow his sour mood to ruin his public image.

A large double door made partially of wood and partially of mosaic glass led into a spacious hall, which even from the first glance seemed busier and nosier than the front yard. It was brightly lit, both from many tall windows and from rows of luminescent lamps on the ceiling. The light was reflecting from the checkered, black and white floor, the tiles seeming almost mirror-like polished despite the constant abuse of dozens upon dozens of feet stepping on them.

“Ah, Mister Brooks, it’s a pleasure to see you,” greeted the police officer on a receptionist duty who sat behind the front desk. It was a man in his mid-fortieth, a little overweight, but mostly in shape, with a touch of gray sprinkling his dark-blonde, almost brown hair. The nametag pinned to his blue uniform shirt stated his name to be Andrew Gibbs.

“Please, you can just call me Barnaby,” he smiled.

The officer chuckled, shaking his head. “Sorry, not sure if I can comply with this request. You might not be here today on an official business, but I still have to uphold professionalism here.”

“In this case, I can only say I wish some people I know could grasp such a concept,” Barnaby nodded, hoping his remark sounded more like a joke, rather than an honest sentiment.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. Instead, he turned towards the deeper part of the hall, nodding in the direction of several benches following almost an entire length of one of the walls. There, among two other civilian visitors, Barnaby spotted a familiar figure in a gray button-up shirt and a black pair of slacks held safely in place by ridiculous suspenders.

He was sitting on the bench, staring aimlessly at the floor with his shoulders sulken. Even from the distance, Kotetsu looked completely miserable, like a puppy kicked out the house and under the rain, the picture that made Barnaby sigh and almost forget how frustrated he was with his partner. Almost.

“Do I need to sign anything, or pay the bail?” Barnaby asked, turning his attention back to the officer.

The question made Gibbs look surprised for some reason. “For Mister Tiger? Oh, no, nothing like that.”

That made Barnaby rather confused. More so that he’d already been since he was awoken by a call from the police and asked to pick his partner up from jail, of all places. Barnaby had had time to come to a multitude of different conclusions and bring himself to a state of almost perturbation by the request. The fact he was contacted personally, instead of the police going through their employers only added to his complete incomprehension of the situation.

As if reading it all in Barnaby’s expression, Gibbs proceeded with a further explanation. “You see, we were actually called to the scene because of a broken window last night and found him sleeping soundly in the middle of the street,” he said scratching the nape of his head. “We honestly didn’t recognize him at first, brought him here for a drunken debauchery, but there was an eyewitness who stated he was trying to save some young woman assaulted on the street.”

Hearing that, Barnaby’s gaze unintentionally slid back to Kotetsu. A small smile formed on his lips and he realized that he came unexpectedly close to forgiving his partner completely.

“Anyway,” Gibbs concluded, “the window was either an accident, or it wasn’t even him, and simply being drunk is not illegal, so we were ready to let him go, but he wasn’t... exactly capable. He’d agreed to spend the night here.”

“Thank you,” Barnaby said to the officer with a sense of relief. “If you excuse me, I should probably be going now.”

“Yeah, sure,” Gibbs agreed. “Take care.”

Finishing his conversation, Barnaby moved further into the hall, approaching Kotetsu, who seemed to be still clueless to his presence. “So, what did you do this time, old man?” he asked crossing his arms, his intonation demanding.

Kotetsu startled, his eyes snapping upwards. “Bunny,” he smiled rather enthusiastically, but then most likely noticed the the expression on the younger man’s face, and his tone turned a little more serious. “I swear it’s not what it looks like,” he said looking away.

“I don’t care what it looks like,” Barnaby shook his head. It wasn’t like he wanted to be mean to his partner, but he knew if he was going to let him off the hook too easily, it was only going to spoil him even worse than he’d already been. “You dragged me all the way here on my day off and made me worried sick, so save your excuses and let’s go.”

Without saying anything else, he nodded for Kotetsu to follow and turned around to walk out of the police station. On his way, he nodded to Gibbs again and exited the building, finding himself in a chilly morning of a Sternbildian Fall.

He felt much better now, the fresh air helping him calm down after everything he went through in the last hour and a half. Despite his jacket feeling a little too light for the weather, he was almost upset he needed to return to his car, wanting to take a walk instead, enjoy the sun.

Unfortunately, his better mood didn’t last. First of all, he couldn’t go for that walk, because he needed to take Kotetsu home. Then, on the way to his car, a young girl who walked in the opposite direction, not even paying attention to the surroundings, bumped her shoulder with him. When he glanced back, pondering if he needed to call her attention, he saw her almost running away and inside the station. Just in case, he checked his pockets, but it didn’t look like anything was stolen, so he let it slip.

It were all minor things, but he had a tiring morning, so when he finally got into the car, it took an effort not to slam the door. He didn’t mean it, and when he realized his attitude was getting out of control, he took a deep breath, determined to calm himself down.

The first few minutes of driving they spent in a complete silence. Several times, when Barnaby deemed it to be safe, he tore his eyes away from the road glancing at his partner. He pondered about continuing giving him a cold shoulder, because in the end he was still a little upset with him, but Kotetsu looked way worse than Barnaby initially assessed. There were dark circles under his eyes, his usually neat beard less distinguishable against the dark stubble.

Kotetsu had never been a one to open up easily. He was a type who could be going through serious emotional turmoils, but smile and pretend to be the happiest man alive to everyone around. In the years of knowing him, Barnaby had learned to read him well, and right now he could even guess what was bothering him.

The recent spike of criminal activities in the area he lived in had started a month ago. It began with several reports of sexual assaults with culprits described by the victims as completely different people with nothing in common, but fairly young age. Kotetsu had been rather angry by the mere nature of the crimes, but it only worsened some days later, when the first several assaulters had been found dead. One had taken his own life, the cause of death of the others was a heart failure caused by drugs, or at least it was what the official records stated. Unofficially, no-one could still figure the real reason behind it.

The police had been investigating the case since then, but they hadn’t come even close to findinf out what was going on, not to mention doing anything about it.

Two weeks later, Kotetsu had finally reached the point when he could wait no longer and started his own investigation. It was a rather unusual sight too. First of all, conducting investigations was not a part of their job, even if they were not discouraged from it and had a full access to the police database. Secondly, seeing Kotetsu willingly burying himself in paperwork was almost bizarre. In fact, Barnaby thought that in the last several weeks the man had done more actual work than in almost three years he’d known him.

That being said, Kotetsu was not a great investigator. He was about as perceptive as a brick wall and had a similar to it level of deductive skills. Yet, he was also capable of producing this special kind of sad and tired smile that had never failed to do funny things to Barnaby’s stomach, making him want to pander to Kotetsu’s every whim.

And that was exactly how both of them ended up tangled in this investigation, but even with the combined effort they didn’t manage to come closer to solving anything.

Shaking his head, he looked at his partner again, his pathetic expression making Barnaby finally forget about all of the troubles he'd caused. “You’re doing this thing again,” he sighed.

“What thing?” Kotetsu echoed blankly.

“Blaming yourself.”

On the corner of his eyes, he saw Kotetsu shift, yet he remained silent for a long moment, making Barnaby believe his partner wasn’t going to talk, the same way he’d never talked about things that bothered him.

“Ah, come on, Bunny,” Kotetsu grinned. “It was just a few drinks, and then I sort of passed out.”

That response forced Barnaby to take another deep breath. He didn’t expect his partner to take this conversation seriously, but it was unpleasant nonetheless. “You’re more than aware it’s not what—”

“I could’ve captured the guy,” Kotetsu said a little angrier, interrupting him. “I could’ve done something. No matter how much it pisses me off to think what he was about to do, I can’t stop thinking he might end up dead too.”

Barnaby nodded even if he doubted Kotetsu could see the gesture, surprised by the other man’s sudden outburst. He wanted to reassure him, tell him they were going to figure it out, but the words that came out of his mouth were not exactly what he intended to say. “And you would’ve, if you hadn’t spent the evening drinking.”

That earned him a disgruntled groan. “What, a guy can’t relax a little?”

“Not if he loses an important suspect because of it, ends up in jail afterwards, which could ruin the public image of himself and his partner. Not if the said partner is forced out of the bed to drive him home without as much as a thank you. Not if—”

“Wait, I didn’t even thank you!” Kotetsu almost jumped on his seat, interrupting him for the second time. Immediately he groaned again, but this time obviously in pain, making Barnaby realize he most likely had a hangover. “I mean, thank you,” he continued quieter, softer, “for caring so much about this old man to put him in his place when he forgets about reason.”

There was not a single note of sarcasm in his voice, his words sounding genuine and Barnaby found himself gripping tighter into the steering wheel, the leather creaking under his fingers. He felt suddenly lightheaded hearing his partner’s intonation, wanting to grin without any particular reason, his frustration completely forgotten, as if had never been there in the first place.

To tell the truth, this back and forward motion between utter annoyance and deep affection was something he was long used to. Kotetsu was a master of making Barnaby switch between the desires of punching his partner in the face and pushing him against a nearest wall, kissing the living light out of him in a matter of seconds.

Thankfully, so far Barnaby had managed to act on neither of these impulses. First one, because even almost two years later after being brainwashed, the memory of hurting Kotetsu lingered. The second one... well, there were way too many reasons why it was a really bad idea.

“You’re most welcome, Kotetsu,” he replied quirking the corner of his lips. “And there is a bottle of aspirin in the glovebox,” he added reaching for the map pocket on his side and pulling a small plastic bottle of water tucked there, offering it to Kotetsu.

“Bunny,” Kotetsu sighed contently, accepting the bottle, “you’re the absolute best.”

“Oh good,” Barnaby chuckled in response. “We can agree at least on something.”

***

The trip to Kotetsu’s home wasn’t long, the police station situated fairly close to the area he lived in. Yet, even in that short period of time, the older man managed to doze of, his head resting against the window, his own jacket under his cheek.

Barnaby parked the car next to the entrance and turned his attention to Kotetsu. He looked calm when he slept, the worry creases on his forehead that became just a little more pronounced in the last few years smoothed out to the point it was barely possible to see them. He looked younger like that, and it was difficult to tell this man was steadily nearing his fortieths. He was ridiculously handsome too, to the the point Barnaby wondered if it was possible his irresponsible personality was the only reason preventing him to be the more popular one in their team. On another hand, it was possible Barnaby’s own infatuation with the man was talking right now, because he didn't remember thinking of Kotetsu in such terms when they first met.

“Hey, Kotetsu,” he called, gently shaking his partner by the shoulder.

The man’s eyes fluttered open. He looked lost for a second, until his gaze settled on Barnaby and his lips stretched in a small, but happy smile, making the younger man’s brain instantly catalogue this expression as something he wouldn’t have minded seeing more often.

“Come on, go fix yourself up and we’ll meet later in the library,” Barnaby proposed. “Let’s pull the last night’s incident report files and see how it fits with the rest.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Kotetsu nodded, starting to open the door. One leg out of the car, he stopped, his expression turned thoughtful. “Hey, if I dragged you straight out of bed, it means you haven't eaten anything yet.”

The last part was a statement rather than a question, and Barnaby was unsure if he needed to confirm it. He managed to spare some time for a basic morning routine before leaving his apartment, but breakfast indeed wasn’t on the list of things that he had time for.

“How about you come up with me,” Kotetsu proposed. “I don’t really have anything ready, but if you wait a bit, we could go grab something. My treat, as a thank you.”

There was a moment of struggle in Barnaby’s mind. On one hand, he had nothing better to do at the moment and Kotetsu’s company, no matter what he kept telling the man, had never been unwelcome. On the other hand, since both of them were reinstated in the First League, the amount of time they were spending together increased significantly. Barnaby would’ve been lying if he said he didn’t like it, but he was also afraid it made the chances of him saying, or doing something he would regret letter a lot higher.

“You’d better not take too long then,” Barnaby smirked nonetheless, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door on his side, stepping out of the car.

In silence they proceeded towards the building’s entrance. The main doorway led into an old, but neatly kept and clean hallway with a spiraling staircase leading to the higher floors. There was an elevator in the center of it, a very old kind of one, with actual metal bars surrounding the shaft. A handwritten sign stating the elevator to be out of order was nailed to its door, and Barnaby knew it'd been an unchangeable part of the decor for at least two years, but suspected it’d been there for much longer than that.

“Erm,” Kotetsu rubbed the back of his neck in a gesture of uncomfortableness as they reached the third and last floor, approaching the door leading to his apartment. “I didn’t really expect having a guest, so...” he trailed off turning the key in the lock — also an old kind of one, not a padlock, similar to the one installed on the entrance of the building itself.

The door opened revealing a tiny entryway with a cloth rack one one side and another door leading to a combined shower and toilet on the other. Another doorway in front of them led to the sight of Kotetsu’s studio apartment. And it was an unpleasant sight.

There were empty bottles all over the floor, the table filled with take out boxes to the point some of them ended up falling from it, with not enough space on the table to contain them. Closer to the staircase leading to the bedroom loft, Barnaby could see a pile of clothes, a green sleeve of a shirt was hanging from the loft like some sort of a Christmas decoration, which led Barnaby to a believe there was another pile next to Kotetsu’s bed.

It also didn’t smell very good.

“Seriously?” Barnaby narrowed his eyes looking at the surroundings.

Kotetsu opened his mouth and then closed it again. “I’ll be really quick,” he muttered moving towards the bathroom, while starting to undress at the same time. A second later the door closed behind him, the sound of starting water following and Barnaby was left standing there completely alone.

Sighing, he took off his jacket, hanging it carefully on the rack and moved further into the apartment, wondering how his partner could even live in such a mess. Approaching the couch he saw there was exactly one clear spot to sit down, but when he took that spot, he started to doubt it was such a great idea. He sat staring at the pile of trash on the table, to the point it started to feel as if the trash was staring back at him. It also seemed the trash was winning this silent contest of wills.

Unable to take it any longer, Barnaby got up and went into the kitchen to fetch an empty trash bag, wondering how did his life turned this way, and whether or not he needed to ask himself that question.

By now Barnaby figured that the conditions of the other man’s living were dependable to his emotional state. Content and happy Kotetsu actually liked to go through his things and sort them, especially his clothes and vinyl collection. Depressed Kotetsu was stopping caring about these things altogether, completely separating himself from anything material. Barnaby wasn’t even sure when or how he noticed this correlation, but he thought it was about the same time and from the same source he learned where the man kept his trash bags.

By the time he finished gathering the things that some people could actually consider a biohazard, Kotetsu appeared from the shower, visibly cleaner and with a noticeable lack of stubble on his face. The lack of anything except a white towel around his hips was noticeable too, but after years of sharing communal showers in the training center, Barnaby had learned to mostly ignore such things, or at least pretend not to ogle.

“You didn’t have to do it,” Kotetsu said nodding somewhere in the general direction of the table.

“You’re worse than a pig,” Barnaby replied in the same intonation, trying to make it sound less like an accusation and more like a statement of a fact.

The other man frowned. “Yeah, I guess I am,” he grinned after a moment of consideration, and Barnaby felt his heart sinking.

Usually it was the point when they were starting to pick a fight. They would yell at each-other a little, then calm down. Kotetsu would laugh and pat him on the shoulder, and Barnaby would pretend he was still annoyed before, with a perfectly timed smile, tell the other man they were good.

Kotetsu being so agreeible was the worst sign of all. It meant his bad mood was reaching a level Barnaby had witnessed only once before, when Kotetsu had been told there were no plans on his rainstation in the First League and that the Second League was being disbanded altogether.

Barnaby hadn’t had an idea of what he could do or say to his partner back then, same way he had no idea what he could do or say to him now. Silently he watched Kotetsu climbing the stairs to the loft, averting his eyes only when he realized the man needed some privacy to change.

“We could grab something to eat and take it with us to the library, not to waste any time,” Barnaby proposed and mentally demolished himself for own stupidity, reminding himself yet again to think before speaking.

“Huh, I thought you couldn’t bring food to the library,” Kotetsu replied from the loft catching up on his mistake somehow faster than Barnaby expected.

“Well, we could copy files from there and go through them—”

Barnaby’s PDA started to ring, indicating an incoming call. Grateful it saved his face from speaking complete nonsense, he answered it hurriedly, a holographic projection of Agnes’ face appearing in his view.

“Morning, Barnaby,” she greeted him, her face turned into the direction of the camera, but her eyes looking somewhere else, as if she was doing two task simultaneously.

“Morning,” Barnaby nodded. “Is there an emergency?”

“Not exactly,” she replied still not even looking at him. “I remember you worked on that case in Bronze... could you stop by Apollon headquarters any time soon?”

Barnaby frowned, wondering if he needed to correct her that it was Kotetsu who worked on the case, while he was just helping his partner, but decided against it. Not because he wanted the fame, but because correcting Agnes was generally a bad idea. “Did something new came up?”

“Yes,” Agnes said sounding somewhat frustrated, which was understandable, considering a series of criminal activities on this scale continuing for so long was placing Hero TV in a rather uncomfortable position too. “We have an important witness who you could speak too. Oh, that reminds me, could you also get a hold of your partner and tell him to come over as well?”

“Yes, we actually were almost on our way to the Justice Tower, but we could stop by the Apollon Media first.”

“Thanks a lot,” she said and hung up, leaving Barnaby to stare at the empty space that was a glowing screen above his wrist only a moment ago.

“So, does it seem like today is a good day to finally crack this case?” Kotetsu’s voice came from somewhere close to him, the man sounding more sure and in higher spirits.

Glancing at his partner, Barnaby caught him fixing his tie, noting him to look sharper that he’d been in the past few weeks. “It does seem like you watch too many detective movies,” he replied with a shrug. “Let’s go, see what we can find,” he added gesturing at the door.

Only when Kotetsu moved to walk in front of him, only when Barnaby was sure his face could no longer been seen, he allowed himself to smile as wide as he wanted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank a random name generator for making my life easier.  
> You may or may not interpret some parts of the story as Nathan/Antonio.

The most logical place for an eyewitness to wait for a chance to speak with either one of the Apollon heroes, was the room next to their shared office. There were less convenient places for it too, like the general visitors area, or even the cafeteria on the first floor. Locked up behind a bulletproof glass in Saito's testing lab was most definitely not one of those places, but it was exactly where they found her.

"Her name is Alexia Marshall," Agnes said gesturing at the girl behind the glass, as if she was some sort of a showpiece in a museum.

Alexia was sitting in the corner of the room, glancing at the people on the other side from under the bangs of her shortly cut brown hair. There were wires and some sensors attached to her body, and even from afar it was noticeable her flushed face was covered in a layer of perspiration. She breathed fast, like if she'd ran a mile before the two heroes arrived, every muscle of her body tense.

“A high school student, lives in the part of Bronze with the recent spike of criminal activities,” Agnes continued. “She surrendered herself to police this morning and they contacted us.”

Barnaby recognized her even before Agnes mentioned the police, it was the same girl who bumped into him earlier that day. "Is she dangerous?" he inquired, because considering the girl's treatment it seemed like a logical question.

"Hey now!" Kotetsu chimed in, leaning closer to Agnes and Barnaby, trying to insert himself between them. "Why would you even ask a question like this? It's just a child!"

"Not at the moment,” Agnes replied not paying attention to Kotetsu's remark. “And not for the two of you."

Barnaby wanted to ask what she meant, but was distracted by the show producer's reaction that caught him a little off guard. Agnes averted her eyes to look at the floor and Barnaby could've sworn she blushed.

"Just put a stop to this idiotism, I'm tired of receiving letters of complaint. Unsolved for a month crimes do bad things to our ratings," Agnes concluded turning around and almost stomping out of the lab, her heels clicking on the metal floor.

Barnaby watched her leave, then glanced at Kotetsu who was scratching his cheek, seeming as confused as Barnaby felt. Not finding an explanation in his partner, he turned to the girl behind the glass. To his surprise, everything in her posture changed the moment Angles was no longer in her field of vision. She still looked rather sickly, but her breathing was less rigid, her body more relaxed.

A barely tangible whisper sounded from the corner of the room and for the first time since they'd entered the lab, Barnaby noticed an addition person. Although, giving the circumstances, him and Kotetsu should've been called additional people and not the engineer working here.

Saito watched them expectedly for a moment as if waiting for something, then sighed rather dramatically and reaching for a headset with an attached microphone. "I said," he repeated, his voice coming from speakers placed strategically around the room, so loud Barnaby was worried even fifteen minutes of listening to it could give him a headache. "Her readings are steady now, and I'm going to open the door for you!"

His office chair swung, Saito turning to face a set of panels. Looking over dozens of keyboards, most of each Barnaby couldn't even guess the purpose of, he started to stretch his fingers, as if preparing to input a series of passwords and formulas complicated enough to take hours of work. Then he leaned closer to the panels pressing exactly one button, before turning his head to face the two heroes, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

A lock on the glass door leading into the testing section of the lab clicked, then another. Then at least six more locks snapped out of their positions before a wide metal bar slid to the side, the door itself hissing open, making Barnaby wonder not for the first time why the testing room used mostly for their suites needed that much security.

“Say, Bunny,” Kotetsu whispered, leaning closer to his partner, as they were entering the newly opened doorway, “is it just me, or the things in Saito’s lab get weirder and weirder each year?”

“I can still hear you, Tiger!” The engineer's voice screamed at them from the other section of the room.

Kotetsu winced, yet it was difficult to tell whether from the volume, or from being caught speaking behind Saito’s back. Glancing back, he grinned innocently at the engineer and offered him a shrug.

Barnaby’s attention, meanwhile, turned completely to the girl, who was still sitting in the corner, watching them. She didn't move to stand, but curiosity sparked in her eyes as they walked in. When her gaze moved from Barnaby to Kotetsu, a frown appeared on her face and her eyes widened, like she recognized him. "Oh," she made a small sound.

"Hello, Alexia, how are you?" Kotetsu smiled gently. He spoke with an air of familiarity, but not in a manner that indicated he knew her, more like the way he usually spoke to children and teenagers.

Alexia winced hearing her own name. "I'm horrible, but thank you. And please don't call me that. I'm Alex."

It was Kotetsu's turn to frown. "Hey now, it doesn't seem like a good name for a young lady," he said making Barnaby want to roll his eyes.

"I'm not a lady," Alex muttered looking away, the intonation in their voice more annoyed than angry, as if it was an argument surfacing too many times in their life.

"Would 'he' be more appropriate?" Barnaby asked, the question earning him a surprised stare and a returned smile.

"Yes, please," Alex nodded.

"Umm, alright," Kotetsu exhaled slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.

He looked genuinely confused, his eyes moving up and down the crouched frame of the teenager, as if he was trying to wrap his head around the presented information. It was almost like the concept still seemed strange to him, even while he was a good friend with both flamboyant Fire Emblem and Dragon Kid, who recently changed the clothing style to mostly three pieces suits and ties.

"Anyway," Kotetsu shook his head, "why are you even locked in here? Especially when you said you didn't feel good. Shouldn't you go to the hospital?"

Alex sighed, "I don't know if they can help. I went to the police and they brought me here, so you could figure it out, given it was a NEXT power that did it to me. This guy did something and now..." he stumbled looking away, his face turning a shade redder.

If not for the circumstances, Barnaby could have called it good news. A NEXT mastermind behind the whole mess had been one of their theories, but they’d had other ones too. Given the age of the victims and the evidence of serious hormonal disbalance found in the deceased, the police was speculating about drugs, which seemed as valid. There were also some talks about occult activities, even if it sounded less probable than the first two. What Alex just said narrowed it down, and it was more useful information than they’d managed to gather in weeks.

“This is so wrong and embarrassing,” Alex continued to speak. “I almost went to my girlfriend last night knowing she was home alone. I have no idea how I would’ve been able to live with myself if I had,” he concluded hiding his face into his knees, his hands rising to cover his head.

“And why would that be such a bad idea?” Kotetsu frowned tilting his head, most likely not being able to completely catch up with all of the information, connect the dots.

Alex visibly trembled hearing the question. His head rose to glare at Kotetsu. “Because,” he said quieter, but also lower, almost in a growl. “Because I wanted to do things. Inappropriate things. And I can barely control it.”

Several seconds of silence followed, during which Barnaby could practically hear gears turning in Kotetsu's head. “Oh,” the older man responded and now it was his turn to look away, scratching his chin uncomfortably.

“You’re the heroes, aren’t you? You can help me,” Alex almost pleaded, his eyes moved from Barnaby to Kotetsu. “You were there too, Mister Tiger, you were even hit with the same power, but you managed to do something about it.”

Barnaby’s eyes flew open and he turned to Kotetsu a little more sharper than he intended. At least a dozen of different questions formed in his head, yet he couldn’t bring himself to ask a single one in the presence of a civilian.

Kotetsu seemed as taken aback by the news as Barnaby. Complete surprise crossed his features and he stared back at his partner. “I don’t feel any different, I swear!” he blurted, his hands flying up in front of him in defence.

“We’ll talk about it it later,” Barnaby warned narrowing his eyes.

Kotetsu looked like he wanted to continue his explanation. He opened his mouth, but an unmistakable moan from Alex’ side interrupted him, forcing both men’s attention to the teenager.

Still in the corner, Alex dropped to his side, his hands wrapped around his body. He was trembling visibly, short rigid gasps escaping him. Through the hazed eyes, Alex was looking around the room, but he didn’t seem to focus on anything.

“Alex,” Kotetsu called moving to his side, hand reaching out to land on the teenager’s shoulder.

“No, don’t touch me,” Alex breathed out, trying to shove Kotetsu’s hand.

“Tiger, Barnaby, leave the testing room!” Saito’s voice came from the speakers, an even louder electronic screech that followed was enough to make Barnaby want to cover his ears.

Hand still hanging in the mid air, inches away from Alex, Kotetsu stopped clenching his teeth. He hesitated for a moment, but then withdrew, hastily moving away and out of the testing portion of the lab. “We need to call an ambulance,” he groaned reaching for the pocket of his slacks and extracting his phone.

“Please wait, Mister Tiger!” Alex called from his crouched position. “I can’t go to a hospital, I can’t appear around people, I might be dangerous to them.”

Fingers still above the screen of his phone, half-way out of the room, Kotetsu turned to stare at him. "Well, we can’t exactly leave you here either," he frowned.

“But—” Alex tried again.

“My partner is right,” Barnaby interjected. “We appreciate you coming to talk to us, but if something was to happen to you here, we would have no way of dealing with it. We can get into trouble for it too.”

He’d already started to calculate the amount of money Apollon Media could be sued for if Alex died in their facility, but he had enough caution not to mention it outloud.

“Plus,” Barnaby added softer, “your family is going to worry.”

Still breathing hard through an open mouth, Alex stared at him. “You are right,” he nodded finally and for the first time since they entered the lab, he started to get up from the floor.

“You, on the other hand,” Barnaby added turning to Kotetsu, his hand flying to point at his partner, making the man flinch, “are getting suited up. We have some diagnostics to run.”

***

Saito made a strange sound gesturing at the monitors of his working station. "Here!" he said obviously trying to be quieter, yet it still came out ear-wrenchingly loud.

There were two sets of diagrams on the screens, biometric information that had been recorded from the scans of sensors similar to the ones installed in their hero suits. One of them belonged to Alex, while the second one was Kotetsu's.

It were very extensive readings, starting with general things like heart rate, ending with pressure of their blood. There were some of the sensors Barnaby couldn't even tell the purpose of, and preferred not to think about, knowing it was all designed for their safety. They were also sophisticated enough for Saito to give him a warning about having a cold once, almost a day before Barnaby got any symptoms.

"The secretion of hormones in human bodies is mostly a result of homeostatic feedback," Saito talked, pointing at the diagrams most of which were in a green range, which commonly associated with being normal. "While some of them can be released into the bloodstream purely from mental activity, more often it is stimulated by factors like change in temperature, change of weight, damaged body cells. Basically any change in human body that requires hormones, sends a signal to the brain thought the parasympathetic nervous system. The brain then process that information—"

“And the point is...?” Kotetsu interrupted him, yelling from the other side of the bulletproof glass, where it was now his turn to be locked, at least a dozen of sensors attached to his bare chest. The expression of his face was indicating almost complete lack of understanding and his intonation — the lack of patience, but at least he was sitting on a table rather than the floor.

“I'm not a biologist or chemist, and my lab is lacking appropriate equipment, but from what I see, there's nothing wrong with Alex’ body, that could've caused it. It means what is happening is purely mental,” Saito concluded missing not even a beat.

“And what about me?” Kotetsu asked pointing a thumb at his own chest.

“Ah, there’s nothing wrong with you, Tiger!” Saito waved his hand dismissively, not even looking at the man.

Mumbling something incoherent, Kotetsu got up from the table unplugging the wires from his body and picking up his discarded garments, starting to pull them on.

“That is strange,” Barnaby sighed rubbing his chin. The knowledge Kotetsu wasn’t affected by whatever powers hit him was relieving, but he was ignoring it as pointedly as he was ignoring the sight of his partner with only his undershirt on. “Is it possible the culprit might possess two powers?”

“Or it’s the same power, but it affects people differently,” Saito said. He brought another two sets of data on the screen, nodding at them. “See, there are traces of some hormonal disbalance in Kotetsu’s body too, but it is so minor he would probably not even notice the difference and his body is already on the way to a complete normalization.”

Barnaby hummed, trying to think why the same power brought such different reactions from Alex and Kotetsu. It couldn’t have been gender, because the previous victims were both males and females, and both Kotetsu and Alex identified themselves as men. Sexual orientation was unlikely, because, from what Barnaby managed to gather, both Kotetsu and Alex were attracted to women only. Age difference seemed like the most logical explanation, considering the rest of the victims were fairly young.

On another hand, Saito did mention whatever was happening to the victims was purely mental, and Kotetsu’s mental age was... his twelve years old daughter seemed more mature to Barnaby sometimes than her father.

In any case, Barnaby needed way more evidence to construct a better picture. “Kotetsu, can you recollect what exactly happened last night?”

By now his partner was done buttoning his shirt and even managed to strap back his suspenders. He exited the testing section approaching the control panels. “Well, thinking about it now, I do remember being hit by something. It made me like... paralyzed, before knocking me unconscious. Well," he added in a chuckle, "maybe me falling unconscious was not a part of the power."

“How can you even joke about it?” Barnaby looked at him sharply, finding himself shivering at the realization of how dangerously close his partner came to be exposed to whatever side effects of the NEXT ability. Even worse, he could've been outright killed had person he fought had any other kind of powers.

“Well, I’m fine, so no point in thinking what could've happened.”

“No point?” Barnaby retorted, making a step closer to the other man, into Kotetsu’s personal space. He felt angry again, fear for losing his partner fueling the emotion. “Your recklessness will be your downfall one day, and what would I do then?” he asked poking Kotetsu in the chest, immediately regretting his own words, because he said way more than he intended and was now fighting his body from reacting in any manner that would indicate his embarrassment.

Kotetsu’s stature didn’t change, but his expression softened. “Bunny,” he sighed.

It forced Barnaby to avert his eyes, pretending the readings on the computer monitors were suddenly very interesting. “Do we have anything that could help us figure out how to help Alex?” he asked trying to pull his thoughts together.

“Not right now,” Saito shook his head. “Perhaps, if you manage to capture the NEXT behind it, it would make more sense.”

Kotetsu stepped closer to the engineer's station, crossing his arms. “Well, then we better start looking more thoroughly.”

***

They didn’t speak much on their way to the Justice Tower. On most occasions, the silence between them had been comfortable, two friends enjoying each other’s company without a need for words. Lately it had been a strained kind of silence, as if the gap between them was growing with each passing day and Barnaby had no idea how to fix it.

A gnawing feeling in his stomach was telling Barnaby it was mostly his fault. He remembered the time when they didn’t have this issue. After the defeat of Jake they'd learned to trust each other, rely on each other at work. Their friendship grew strong during that time, and being in Kotetsu’s company became as natural for Barnaby as breathing.

And then it changed. Barnaby's attachment to Kotetsu had been growing, until his entire world started to figuratively orbit around the man. It'd scared him, and so he'd withdrawn. He knew if he was to come out, tell Kotetsu how he felt, it could put their already strained friendship to an end, so he was trying to suppress his feelings, becoming colder, more distant. Yet, instead of making it easier, it only made it worse.

“I think it makes sense to look through the criminal database again,” Barnaby proposed to start any sort of conversation. “Perhaps, we’ve missed something last time.”

Kotetsu hummed in agreement, but didn’t say anything, shutting himself down again, remaining silent for a while. “I’m sorry,” he muttered finally.

“Huh?” Barnaby frowned, sparing his partner a single glance.

“I’ve been kind of off recently. But I’m just so pissed. That bastard,” Kotetsu’s voice turned angrier as he spoke, his hands clenching into fists, “he thinks he just can go around hurting people. And not only that, he also makes his victims to... I don’t know...”

Hearing it, Barnaby felt ashamed he allowed his thoughts wander while they had to figure out how to find and apprehend the criminal. He really needed to step up his game and clear his mind from the distractions.

“...this kind of thing should only be done with someone you love, you know. And this guy... he’s worse than just a murderer.”

That last part made Barnaby frown. “I understand what you mean, but please don’t talk in imperatives about something like that. It’s not a matter of feelings, it’s a matter of consent.”

“What?” Kotetsu exhaled, sounding taken aback.

“It makes you sound like you’re looking down at people who choose to engage in a physical relationship without love,” Barnaby explained. He knew it wasn’t the truth, he knew even if Kotetsu was disagreeing with people, he’d always made an effort to understand them — resultless at times, but genuine. It was just his big mouth and inability to think before speaking made him sound more intolerant than he actually was. “I don’t want people to think you’re so narrow-minded.”

“Ah, that is what bothers you,” Kotetsu groaned turning his head away as if to look out the window. “You don’t want me to ruin our public image again. Well, sorry you’re stuck with me.”

It was Barnaby’s time to be taken aback. “What? That is not what I meant!” It wasn’t. Barnaby just wished other people could see how good of a man Kotetsu was, and blurting out insensible things was not a way of going about it. Of course, it was also something he couldn’t bring himself to tell his partner.

“Whatever,” Kotetsu muttered resting his elbow on the car’s door, resting his chin on his palm, and it was the last thing he said for the duration of the ride.

***

Barnaby felt like he'd been staring at the selection in a vending machine for hours, yet he knew it couldn't have been that long since he approached it. He was supposed to be hungry, his argument with Kotetsu prevented them from stopping anywhere to grab breakfast, and it was already closer to noon. Yet, he had so much on his mind, that his appetite was close to none-existent.

Shaking his head, he punched a number into the vending machine, watching it pushing out a wrapped sandwich with a mechanical noise. In the end, even if he didn’t feel like it, he needed to eat at least something.

“You look upset, Handsome,” came a voice from behind him, and when Barnaby glanced back he saw Fire Emblem, together with Blue Rose and Dragon Kid, in the break room. “Did Tiger do something stupid that made you upset again?”

The three of them were not in the room when Barnaby had come here, which meant he indeed spent more time lost in thought than was reasonable. They sat around a table with a rather impressive box of pizza lying between them. Even if Barnaby wouldn't have been able to see the box, the smell alone was enough to recognize the pizza was ordered and not defrosted, and looking at it made him slightly envious.

“No, it’s nothing like that,” Barnaby shook his head. He didn’t think he was wrong correcting his partner, but it was possible he had chosen a bad timing for it. On another hand, any time he could think of was a bad timing recently.

Nevertheless, he was sure It wasn't Kotetsu’s fault. In fact, it'd been yet another rare occasion the man decided to open up, tell what was bothering him, and Barnaby was the one who blew it. Thinking about it now, he found himself wishing to punch something, or at least crumble the sandwich in his hand.

“But you most definitely had an argument,” Dragon Kid pointed out sending a slice of pizza into her mouth. Watching it, Barnaby realized that he was a little bit more hungry that he initially accessed and doubted the sandwich he got was going to be enough, but there was no way he was going to ask the three other heroes if they could share.

“It’s nothing serious,” Barnaby replied. “Just stressed out. Both of us.”

“You’re still trying to solve that case?” Blue Rose looked at him somehow sadly, almost pitifully, to which Barnaby purposely did not react, not wishing anyone’s pity.

“You know, if you need a hand, you two can count on us,” Fire Emblem smiled, placing their elbow on the table.

“All of us have been trying to gather some info on it,” Dragon Kid confirmed. “We’ve been even rotating patrols around the area. Managed to stop a few accidents.”

“Unfortunately,” Fire Emblem sighed, “we couldn’t figure out what is causing it all. The drug theory seems to be baseless. I personally have gone to almost every club it could’ve been distributed from in the last couple of weeks, but they were all clear.”

Somehow it wasn’t a surprise. Barnaby didn’t doubt Agnes had made this case everyone’s personal problem, but it wasn’t the only reason. He didn't think the rest of the heroes could sit idly and wait for the police to solve everything and act only when they got a ready culprit to chase. He could also imagine it was Kotetsu’s influence.

“According to your mood, your research had been as pointless as ours so far,” Blue Rose sighed.

“Actually, we had a lot of new information coming in this morning,” Barnaby said moving towards their table. Without asking for a permission, he took the only unoccupied spot beside Dragon Kid and across Fire Emblem and Blue Rose, starting to unwrap his own meal.

His words made the three other heroes instantly forget about their pizza. They looked at him intently, moving a little closer, as if their conversation turned secretive.

At first, Barnaby didn’t plan to involve anyone else, moreover ask for help as a matter of principle, but if they'd already been working on it, he saw no reason to refuse their contribution. In the end, they couldn’t afford continuing being rivals when people’s lives were at stake, and he knew every other hero had a similar idea. Besides, with Kotetsu disappearing somewhere without telling him a word, Barnaby needed someone’s second opinion.

“We were able to find a NEXT is behind it. His powers affect release of hormones in human bodies,” he started to explain, pulling the sandwich out of the wrapper completely. It was impolite to be eating while speaking, so he only held it in hands, needing to look at something to distract himself from their stares.

“Well, it was our theory too,” Dragon Kid nodded.

“It also affects people in two different ways,” Barnaby continued. “One of them is what makes people commit crimes, while the other temporarily paralyzes them. What is the deciding factor in the way each person reacts is what I’ve been trying to figure out during the past several hours.”

“Oh?” Fire Emblem exhaled, and when Barnaby glanced up, he noticed the fire controlling hero looking at him in shock. “Like your all body becomes so weak for several moments you can’t even stand?”

“I assume,” Barnaby frowned looking at Fire Emblem in confusion. “Kotetsu was the one hit by it last night—”

“What?” Blue Rose was up in a blink of an eye, her hands landing on the table so hard, every glass standing on its surface almost jumped. “T-Tiger got hit?!” she demanded completely petrified.

“Kotetsu is fine. It was how we discovered the effects of the power are not harmful to everyone,” Barnaby replied to calm her down. She didn't look fully convinced, but he had a more important things on his mind besides continuing to reassure her. “Speaking of which,” he turned to Fire Emblem again. “How did you know about it?”

“Well,” they said thoughtfully, bringing their index finger to their lips, “it were both me and Bison hit with it a few nights ago. I convinced him to accompany me to one of the clubs, and we saw that suspicious guy.  Slim, less than average in looks, was trying to buy a drink at the bar with a credit card, but when the barman asked for an ID he refused to show it. We thought the card was stolen, so we approached him, that's when we were hit by something that immobilized both of us.”

Barnaby nodded and looked at his sandwich again. He needed a few moments to process everything he was told, so he took a bite, chewing it and then taking a sip of mineral water from his bottle. “Would you be able to recognize him if needed?” he asked when his mouth was empty. “We had a witness, but he couldn’t recollect a single detail about the assaulter’s appearance. Kotetsu couldn’t remember a thing about it either, but because... of other reasons.”

“Oh dear,” Fire emblem smiled reaching for their phone. “Even better. We made a portrait with the police,” they announced opening the device and starting to flip through applications. Then, when they were finally able to find what they were looking for, Fire Emblem turned the screen towards Barnaby, showing him a crude picture of a man generated through a facial composition program. Either because it was made up of different parts, or because it was the guy’s actual appearance, he looked so generic Barnaby would’ve had difficulties to describe him. At least it was enough to recognize him if seen.

“Does it mean we can call the Bureau, so they could give us a go?” Dragon Kid asked.

“Not so fast,” Barnaby shook his head. “First of all, I think I won’t be wrong assuming you looked him up in the police database.”

“No records of him there,” Blue Rose answered his question.

“And we can’t exactly go from house to house knocking on every door,” Fire Emblem agreed with a nod.

“There’s another problem,” Barnaby continued. “This NEXT’s power is proven to be deadly to his victims. It appears at least three of us will not be affected, but we still have no idea what will it do to the rest.”

Dragon Kid made a long 'oh' sound, and Blue Rose visibly shivered, both of them creating a pause long enough for Barnaby to take another bite.

“Well, all of people who only got temporarily immobilized by the powers seem to be older than the victims,” Dragon Kid pointed out touching her chin and looking somewhere to the side in a thoughtful manner.

It was one of the first things Barnaby had thought about, but by now he had time to check it. “Unfortunately, it’s not the case,” he said activating his PDA, opening several files on the victims he’d looked through earlier, bringing one particular file. “Here, Jessica Tallworth, thirty-one years old.”

“Yes, that seems to be unfitting,” Fire Emblem nodded. “What about being a NEXT?”

And that was also one of Barnaby's hypotheses, a one that he'd also had time to discard as untrue. Moving pages on his PDA screen, he found another victim profile. “Donovan Dali,” he said showing the three other heroes a picture of a young man. “Had abilities to manipulate shadows. It was not a particularly powerful talent, but he was a NEXT.”

“Well, what other things you, Tiger and Bison have in common?” Blue Rose asked. “I meant with the three of you the list couldn’t be all that long.”

“Hmm,” Fire Emblem tilted their head, “the three of us? Aside from being heroes, I can’t really think of anything.”

Being a hero, having a mindset and desire to save innocent people, could’ve been a legitimate connection, especially considering Saito’s explanation of the power in question affecting minds, but it wasn’t enough. If they jumped to that conclusion and were proven to be wrong, it could put their lives into a grave danger. There wasn’t a single way to really test it either, but there was a way to find a little more information.

“Does anyone have a laptop at hand, or we could move into the Library,” Barnaby asked.

Blue Rose was the one who turned to her side and reached for her bag, extracting a flat device, placing it onto the table. There were several stickers of tigers on it — not of the hero Wild Tiger, but cartoonish animals kind of ones, but it still didn’t slip Barnaby’s attention. “What do you have in mind?” she asked turning the laptop on and moving it towards Barnaby.

“If there were three people affected by this powers in a manner that only caused a short-term paralysis, it is possible there have been others,” Barnaby explained opening a browser and using the secure connection of Justice Tower to access the police database. “In that case, someone must’ve gone to the police to report it, and neither them, nor us thought about connecting the two.”

As it turned out, he was right, but whether he needed to be happy or upset about it, Barnaby wasn’t sure. Only several minutes of search brought up three results, reports of people exposed to an unknown power with symptoms similar to what both Kotetsu and Fire Emblem described. Two of them were fairly attractive women in their mid-twenties, both married. Third was a young man, a freshman student of athletic build, tall and handsome.

“Well, there's that,” Barnaby sighed in defeat leaning on the backrest of his chair, rubbing his temples.

“So, now we need to figure out what all six of you have in common,” Dragon Kid said eyeing the screen.

“Be I a little younger, I wouldn’t have minded having a thing or two in common with this pretty boy,” Fire Emblem smirked looking at the picture of the college student.

“Not helping,” Blue Rose told them seriously.

She was right, but it didn’t matter. Now it for sure could’ve been anything, even such little things as what time a day they brushed their teeth and which sock they preferred to put on first. What made it worse, Barnaby had a feeling it was something really obvious, something right in front of him and he simply couldn’t see it.

A sound of a door into the break room opening with a woosh interrupted his ponderings and, when he looked into its direction, he saw Kotetsu appearing in the doorway.

The man glanced around the room, his eyes stopping on the only people there. “Hey guys,” he waved starting to walk towards them.

There was a plastic bag in his hand. As he neared the table, he placed it on its surface, and almost immediately Barnaby could smell something even better than the pizza the three other heroes were eating, the scent sweet and pastry-like.

“I did promise to buy us breakfast today,” Kotetsu smiled gently and his expression was enough to make Barnaby warm on the inside, the fact it was already lunch and not breakfast forgotten. “And... umm...” he continued looking away, “Bunny, may I talk to you for a moment?”

There was uncertainty in Kotetsu’s voice, but his intonation was serious, which made Barnaby a little concerned something might’ve happened. Nodding and trying not to show his worry, Barnaby stood up from his chair and followed Kotetsu away, ignoring the curious looks the other three heroes were giving them.

Kotetsu led them out of the break room and down a long corridor, which was almost completely deserted despite the time of the day being during working hours. The corridor ended with an open area with a door to an emergency staircase on one side and a set of elevators on another. The wall right before them had an open archway leading out of the tower's interior and into a balcony, and that was where Kotetsu led them, glancing at Barnaby once before stepping outside the building.

It wasn’t the highest level of the tower, but the view from here on the city was nice. The day was also pleasant, cool but not windy, the sun touching Barnaby's skin was giving enough warmth to be comfortable. The songs of birds were mixing with the noise of the traffic below, but it was distant, quiet enough to be able to talk without a need of raising voice.

Barnaby wouldn’t have minded taking a small break and simply enjoying the view, but the obvious nervousness in Kotetsu’s posture didn’t go unnoticed. “What’s the matter?” he asked worried.

“Nothing,” the older man replied instantly, “Just... Umm...” he gulped, shifting from foot to foot. “I wanted to apologize.”

Barnaby blinked a little surprised. It wasn’t the first time one of them was apologizing to the other, neither it was unusual for Kotetsu to start it, as the man was usually the one doing something that needed an apology. It was just never before it required so much effort from Kotetsu.

“I understand I offended you earlier and it was wrong of me,” Kotetsu said looking somewhere to the side, as if watching the city.

On that Barnaby had to frown, trying to understand what he meant. He had been annoyed with Kotetsu several times that day, but offended was a little strong of a word for it. Nevertheless, he reminded silent, allowing his partner to explain himself.

“I want you to know, I really don’t think less about people who chose to... to have sex without feelings. I do think that it is better doing it with someone you love, but if two people decide to do it without it, it’s alright too, as long as it is something both of them want,” he was saying while Barnaby continued to stare, his jaw slowly dropping. “And moreover I can’t and will never think less about you, nor about any of your choices, because you’re my precious partner, so please forgive me, I didn’t mean what I said earlier.”

Barnaby felt as if the floor was starting to crumble under his feet, as if air was sucked out of his lungs and he could no longer breath. It couldn’t be happening. Out of all conclusions in the world, Kotetsu couldn’t be arriving to this one. He thought he needed to say something, but he was so shocked, he couldn't force a single word out.

There had always been rumors of this nature about the younger hero, cheap tabloids had always been finding ways of digging out some eyewitnesses who had supposedly seen him in a company of women in shady establishments. There had even been two occasions of women claiming they carried his children and one occasion of someone seeing him going to a gay bar, all of which was untrue.

Wrapped completely in the plan of revenge from a very young age, spending his nights gathering information on Ouroboros, Barnaby hadn't thought about romance, considering it to be a distraction from his goal. Granted, once he'd experienced an attraction of that nature before, during his first year at the Hero Academy, but he'd put almost no effort in perusing it. He’d been completely indifferent to the physical aspects of it too and it had never bothered him.

Later, months after his victory over Jake, he decided it was the time to start reconsidering his standing with the subject, that a man of his age should be interested in sex and romance. Yet, when he tried to imagine what an ideal woman for him would be like, an image of Kotetsu was the only thing that popped into his mind. It was both funny and terrifying, because neither Kotetsu was a woman, nor there was anything ideal about him.

Since then, no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t think about anyone else. Even during the year they’d spent apart, his feelings only managed to grow stronger. With or without love, he had never...

Barnaby’s eyes flew open, something clicking in his mind. Ignoring Kotetsu’s confusion that his actions caused, he turned away from the man, activating his PDA again, finding the profile of the oldest of the victims, bringing up the images from the scene of death.

Trying to find clues in details, he’d noticed it before, there was a band on the victim’s ring finger. He’d dismissed it as a wedding ring at first, but looking over the information now, he could see she had never been married. It wasn’t a wedding ring on her finger, but a promise one.

“Say, Kotetsu,” he breathed out. “You’d known Bison since school, did he have any girlfriends?”

“What?” Kotetsu gaped.

“Please, just answer, it’s very important.”

“Umm, yes, I heard about a few, why?”

Barnaby skimmed through the rest of the profiles, noting once again none of them were over nineteen. All so young, but it wasn’t their age that mattered to the NEXT power. The reason why it  made all these teenagers go berserk, forcing them to commit sexual assaults on strangers, while only immobilizing Kotetsu, Bison, Fire Emblem, two married women and a popular college student was that all of them were...

“Virgins,” Barnaby exhaled. “All of the victims were virgins.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Erm... possible past Ivan/Edward? Possible...

Almost all of the heroes gathered in the break room stared at Barnaby as if he just proposed jumping from a flying airplane without a parachute. Kotetsu stood beside him, but he visibly withdrew from the younger man, head tilted to the side, his look judgmental enough that it made Barnaby believe starting this conversation with a phrase ‘I need to know which one of you are virgins’ was not the best move.

Panic written all over his face, Kotetsu came to Barnaby's aid. “What my partner was trying to say,” he started to explain waving his hands and laughing awkwardly. “That... that... Actually, it’s as bad as it sounds,” he sighed in defeat, his head dropping.

“I was able to discover the NEXT ability used on the victims only have dire consequences to people with no prior sexual experience,” Barnaby explained as calmly as he could, adjusting his glasses.

He spoke with assertiveness, because by this point he was certain it wasn’t a speculation. After noticing the pattern, he made sure his hypothesis had a basis. Two hours prior, he’d contacted doctors who’d been performing the autopsy on the deceased to only have them confirm his observation.  

“I’ve already informed Agnes, so we can move out as soon as we make plans and decide who can participate,” Barnaby concluded, looking over the gathered group.

“I think it makes perfect sense,” Fire Emblem smiled. Wiggling his eyebrow, he leaned closer to Rock Bison who sat at the same table.

“What are you trying to imply here?” Bison almost yelped sounding scandalized, moving away, almost to the other side of the U-shaped bench.

“Oh, that means I can’t go,” Dragon Kid nodded, sounding really casual about it. “I hope you’ll catch him.”

Silence followed, everyone looking at each other with a sort of suspicion. During this pause Barnaby realized that, perhaps, approaching every hero separately would’ve been a better solution, but the day was quickly coming to an end, and this was the most efficient way Barnaby could think about for finding out which ones of them were going to be safe.

“How can you discuss things like this so easily?!” Blue Rose asked moving her gaze from Dragon Kid to Barnaby. She was standing a little to the side, her posture stiff, her face several shades redder than her usual complexion.

“Why not?” Dragon Kid shrugged. “We need to figure out who can go.”

Blue Rose bit her lower lip, her eyes glued to the floor. She raised her gaze only once to look at Kotetsu, before looking away again and silently moving to stand beside Dragon Kid, her face turning even redder even if Barnaby though it was physically impossible.

“Don’t be embarrassed, dear, you’ll have plenty of time to catch up,”  Fire Emblem encouraged her with a smile, yet it only gained him an almost murderous glare from the girl.

As their interaction was settled, without any sort of coordination, everyone’s attention switched to Origami Cyclone. He sat quietly in the corner, finding something extremely interesting to look at on his own shoes. He was a year older than Barnaby, but his appearance made him look like a teenager. Plus, the guy was very anti-social, so Barnaby wasn’t sure they could count on him.

“I can be used as a bait,” he muttered quietly, his blush more noticeable on his paler skin. “I can even do it without using my powers, as I look... appropriate.”

His words made Barnaby feel suddenly awkward. Gulping, he looked at Blue Rose and Dragon Kid, understanding that for the time of the operation, he was going to keep company to two people still too young to buy alcohol. If his complete lack of experience hadn’t bothered him before, now he wasn’t so sure.

“Good thinking,” Kotetsu encouraged with a nod.

“Alright, we can go with the bait plan,” Rock Bison agreed. “What about Agnes? Hero TV would want a scoop and we won’t be able to transmit our actions.”

Barnaby made another step forward. Moving to the planning stage was a more familiar territory to him, something he was way more comfortable with than the previous conversation they were having. “As I said, I've spoken to Agnes and she has a few ideas. It will be easy to arrange the Hero TV going live already when—”

“Umm, excuse me?” Sky High interrupted and everyone’s attention turned to him, making the man flinch for some reason. “Well, no-one asked me, but...” he reached the collar of his shirt, tugging it away, as if it was too tight for him, or if he was feeling too hot and needed a better air circulation. “This is an awkward situation and awkward indeed,” he chuckled uncomfortably. He was occupying the same bench as Fire Emblem and Rock Bison, but then took and deep breath and stood up, calmly moving towards Blue Rose and Dragon Kid.

“What? No way!” Fire Emblem exclaimed, cupping his face in a gesture of surprise. “With your looks? And what about that girl you spoke about?”

Sky High’s lips turned into a thin line, the shade of his face changing to match the one Blue Rose had had a few moments earlier. “Well...” he gulped.

Barnaby cleared his throat. “Please, it’s not the time for this,” he warned seriously. At the same time, he couldn't deny he was relieved by this turn of events. Him sitting on the sidelines seemed a lot less awkward now.

There was a problem with it however. Looking at the two groups of people in the room, he started to feel a little worried too. He didn’t count on Sky High ending up unfit for the operation, and without him, Fire Emblem ended up to be the most reliable of the heroes left. It was far from being a good situation.

“You’re right,” Fire Emblem nodded. “I’m sorry, Handsome, it’s just my second nature to be curious about things like that.”

“More like your first nature,” Barnaby sighed, quiet enough it was likely no-one even heard him. “Anyway,” he added louder. “The dawn breaks early this time of year. Everyone who is participating needs to go finish flashing the details with Agnes. The rest...” he rubbed the back of his neck, “...well, it’s possible there will be emergencies.”

Barnaby watched Rock Bison and Fire Emblem getting up from the bench and moving towards the exit, followed by Origami Cyclone. He was ready to step further into the room, already starting to make plans about how else he could help Kotetsu and the rest, thinking that perhaps he could provide support from afar by connecting to the camera feeds from his partner's suit.

A hand landed on his shoulder so suddenly that it startled him. “Let’s go, Bunny,” he heard Kotetsu's voice and turned his head, seeing a warm, reassuring smile on the man's face.

Barnaby felt his eyes going wide, his entire body going weaker all of the sudden. He remembered then, he’d never quite gotten to telling Kotetsu he was wrong deciding Barnaby had had even a single lover, moreover a handful of them. Thinking about it now, during their entire discussion, no-one had asked whether or not he had experience, everyone sort of assumed things.

It was also a good time to reveal this rather useful piece of information, especially considering Barnaby really didn’t want Kotetsu to think he was someone who was changing sexual partners every week. Anyone else could think that way, and he couldn’t care less but not Kotetsu.

“Let’s go,” he nodded and his heart almost stopped.

It wasn't what he intended to say, it was completely the opposite. He stared at Kotetsu trying to judge his reactions, but could see nothing negative — no disappointment, no apprehension, just honest acceptance. In any other situation he would've been glad to have this level of understanding with his partner, but it was different now. With even further sinking feeling of disappointment, Barnaby understood he wanted Kotetsu to judge him, wanted him to be jealous, even if it was completely hypocritical.

"Well then, have a good evening," Kotetsu nodded to the remaining in the break room heroes and started to turn around.

Barnaby opened his mouth, knowing he still had a chance to stop him and tell he couldn't go, but no sound escaped him. Then he remembered Kotetsu didn't have his car, so aside from calling a cab or summoning Saito's truck, he had no way of getting back to the Apollon Media building. Neither of the two were necessary when Barnaby could simply drive him there. In the end, he'd made a promise to help Kotetsu in any way he could, and right now he couldn't think of a better opportunity to do it.

***

Kotetsu was in a better spirit. He wasn't in a good mood per se, but seeing him so determined was way better than seeing him apathetic. "Can't wait to send this bastard to jail," he said leaning backwards into the passenger chair, trying to stretch out his long legs as far as the limited space in the car was allowing.

"He was spooked last night, it's possible he can go into hiding," Barnaby pointed out.

The chances of it were slim, according to the criminal psychology classes that Barnaby took at the academy. So far their culprit behaved like someone who believed they were invincible. If he had at least a notch of self-awareness, his ran in with Rock Bison and Fire Emblem would've made him more cautious than going after another victim only a few days later.

From what Barnaby knew, it was also the first time his victim got away, and, more than likely, he was going to make a point of going after somebody else very soon.

"I'm going to find him even if I'll personally have to search every corner of the entire district," Kotetsu replied seriously.

Barnaby understood the other man's restlessness. Kotetsu had been pretty angry before, hating seeing people die, but now he'd talked to one of the victims, knew there was a person locked in a hospital, having only days left to live unless they figure out how exactly the power in question worked. No matter how caring Kotetsu was in general, knowing someone personally was adding an entire new perspective to human empathy.

"He'll show up," Barnaby nodded. For the first time in a while he felt like believing in it, and not because of the psychology lessons backing him up, but because both of them needed to remain positive, especially with Barnaby unable to be of any use tonight.

He still didn't manage to come out to his partner. He couldn't even believe something so trivial was making him so embarrassed. His imagination wasn't helping him even the slightest, because every time he thought about explaining Kotetsu he’d never had sex, it was conjuring images of the older man leaning in and proposing they had plenty of time to fix that.

But real Kotetsu would never do it. The real Kotetsu would remark something which he’d probably think sounded witty but was going to be completely stupid in reality, and it was the last thing Barnaby wanted.

“You know,” Kotetsu said softly. “We’ll go to celebrate afterwards somewhere. It’s been awhile since we had a dinner together.”

Barnaby wondered if he meant only two of them, or the entire team. He settled on the later not really wanting to get his hopes up. “Alright, it’s a deal,” he agreed.

***

After some careful consideration, Barnaby decided it wasn't too bad. He’d made sure the heroes who could've been in danger were safe. As for himself, he didn't need to treat this situation any different from what he'd been facing on a regular basis.

It wasn't the first time he'd gone after a dangerous criminal, a NEXT with deadly abilities. If he thought of these powers as something capable of killing him on the spot, it really made it seem like a usual occurrence. He just needed to make sure not to get caught.

_ "Disintegration ray, it's a disintegration ray," _ he was repeating to himself touching the sensors on his helmet, checking the layout of the dim street, scanning yet another person passing Origami Cyclone from his hidden spot on a rooftop.

If it helped, it wasn’t by much. His fingers felt nummer under the polystyrene of the gloves, his breathing a little more erratic than usual, and he still couldn't decide whether he was more annoyed thinking about that senseless action flick Kotetsu made him watch once or amused it gave him a fitting reference to compare the NEXT abilities to.

They'd been silently following Origami for two hours now, watching closely each and every person around him, while the hero continued to walk down rapidly emptying street with a printout of a cat picture in his hands. 

It would've looked suspicious to have him wander in a dangerous area after the nightfall, but stuffing a piece of paper into people's faces, asking questions could make anyone a natural part of the scenery, and looking for a lost pet made for a good excuse.

Barnaby watched Origami disappear behind a corner and from the communicator in his helmet heard a confirmation from Fire Emblem he was now in his and Rock Bison’s field of view, which meant it was the time to move to the next location.

They were above the level of the street lights, and the higher rings of the city were a little too far to illuminate the roofs properly. On top of that, every outside light on their suites was shut off, in a stealth mode, which was perfect for staying hidden but made it challenging to navigate. 

Nodding to his partner, Barnaby gestured for him to go first, worried Kotetsu could misstep in the dark and ready to catch him without giving away their position.

"You know, I was thinking," Kotetsu said as they moved. "Donuts. We needed to bring donuts."

"Seriously?" Barnaby hissed in response. "That is what you've been thinking?"

"I mean, we are on a steak out. Every steak out require coffee and donuts."

Barnaby would've rolled his eyes, but with his face covered by the helmet of his suit and Kotetsu’s back turned to him, he deemed it as an unnecessary effort. "You would have nowhere to put them," he pointed out.

"Oh, trust me, my belly would've been a perfect place for it," the other man chuckled, then sighed a little pitifully. "I'm hungry."

Kotetsu had been purposeful a few hours back when they started, almost uncharacteristically focused on the task, but he was also an impatient man, and his initial resolution was slowly thinning out in front of Barnaby's eyes.

_ "You think we could order pizza here?" _ Came Bison's voice, making Barnaby realize the lack of patience was not only his partner's weak point.  _ "We could give a random address in the area, and Kotetsu could just swing by and pick it up." _

_ "Are you guys even going to take this seriously?" _ another voice intervened into the conversation, this time belonging to Agnes who was waiting for a signal to bring in the heavy artillery in a form of a Hero TV chopper with several cameramen inside.

"Easy for you to say," Kotetsu groaned. "I bet you have all three in your van right now: coffee, pizza  _ and _ donuts."

_ "Are you talking back to me, Tiger?" _ Agnes asked so coldly, Barnaby felt shivers running down his spine, even if her words weren't aimed at him.

"Eh, no ma'am," the older man replied hurriedly.

_ "If you're quite done making plans for getting us food," _ Fire Emblem joined in. _ "I think I have a visual." _

Barnaby’s head snapped into the direction of the side street Origami disappeared to. There were several more buildings in between him and the place, and Kotetsu was still blocking his way. Activating his suit to the full power would’ve allowed him to cross that distance in one leap, but cornering the suspect first was their goal. Plus, getting on the scene first could’ve been literally suicidal for him.

_ “I need a conformation,” _ Agnes demanded.  _ “I can’t start the show otherwise.” _

_ “It’s him, alright,” _ Rock Bison replied.

_ “In this case, I’m giving you two minutes to surround him,” _ Agnes announced sounding excited.  _ “Hero TV goes life now.” _

The familiar tone of the show’s opening started to play on the background before Agnes disconnected, prompting Barnaby and Kotetsu to exchange a quick glance and a silent nod. The next moment, without further coordination of their actions, both of them were jumping over the obstacles on the way to the side street, even managing to do it without major accidents.

The alleyway Origami ventured into was a little dimmer than the main street, but the difference in illumination between the rooftop and the ground was still enough to see everything happening there. Barnaby’s eyes landed on the hero almost immediately, another half of a second it took to spot the second person. It was a shady figure in jeans and a dark jacket, most likely black but maybe blue or brown. It was impossible to see the details of his facial features, but he wasn’t even trying to hide it, proving Barnaby’s theory about him not caring someone could recognize or stop him.

He walked at a fast pace, shortening the distance between himself and Origami. “What a handsome young man like you doing in such a lonely place?” he asked in an unpleasant rasp.

“I’m looking for my cat, he ran off somewhere,” Origami replied, acting well and sounding honest in being worried for his nonexistent four-legged friend.

_ “We’re in position,” _ Rock Bison informed.

Barnaby leaned over the edge preparing to jump, taking measured, deep breaths in an attempt to calm his beating too fast heart. For the first time in his career he wondered why they couldn’t remain hidden until the end. A good sniping rifle in his hands with sedative rounds could’ve dealt with their culprit without him knowing what hit him. Instead, they needed to make a show out of it, play cat and mouse for the cameras.

On the corner of his eyes, Barnaby saw Kotetsu placing one foot on the roof’s gutter, his head turned to the criminal. Even while he couldn’t see his partner’s face, the rigid posture of his body was telling Barnaby all of the joking around was forgotten, his determination returning. Now he only hoped it was going to be enough.

The sound of propellers reached Barnaby’s ears only several moments before the red and white helicopter appeared in the view. It was the cue they’ve been waiting for and, without wasting any more time, Barnaby leaped from the roof and onto the paved ground, the hydraulics in his legguards softening the three stories high fall. Less than a second later the second thud announced the appearance of Kotetsu by his side.

The culprit startled, he looked at the two heroes with surprise written all over his face. He almost spun around, ready to ran into the opposite direction, but his way was cut off by Fire Emblem who walked casually from behind a building and Rock Bison, who jumped off another rooftop, his own landing causing a little tremor in the ground.

“You have nowhere to run, criminal scum, so better surrender now!” Kotetsu announced in his usual, over the top manner, pointing his finger at the guy.

Glancing between the four heroes and the chopper that only now appeared above them, shining a spotlight at the scene, the culprit turned to Origami. In a blink of an eye, he was beside the young hero, grabbing him by the collar of his sweater shirt, a knife appearing in his hand seemingly out of nowhere. “You will let me go, or the boy dies!” he warned.

That was something Barnaby didn’t expect, even if he should've had. In any other circumstances, he wouldn’t have worried about Origami, the man knowing a thing or two about self-defense. Appearing in front of the cameras with his real face, however, the captured hero couldn’t fight back not to reveal his true identity.

What Barnaby also didn’t expect was for Origami to start glowing blue, turning the next moment into the completely geared up version of himself, his face hidden by a mask. It was a brilliant move, Barnaby thought, with everyone knowing about his shapeshifting abilities, no-one was ever going to think the face they just saw on TV was his real one.

Kicking the culprit in into the shin, Origami grabbed him by the arm and twisted it in a manner that completely reversed their position. “You thought I was just an innocent bystander?” he laughed in the same over dramatic manner as Kotetsu, with the only difference Origami’s play was only saved for the cameras, while Barnaby’s partner had always behaved like that. 

_ “Unbelievable!” _ Mario’s voice sounded from the speakers in Barnaby’s suit.  _ “Looks like Origami Cyclone is starting strong this season! Masquerading as a teenager, he lured the criminal and scor—” _

Mario faltered, and before Barnaby had a chance to figure out why, a very familiar screech sliced the night. A flash of blue fire flew before him, almost hitting the criminal if not for Origami tugging him out of the way the last moment. Instead, it hit the wall of a building, bursting a little brighter before being extinguished, leaving a scorch mark on the brick surface.

Barnaby’s attention snapped into the direction the fire came from, and he could see it clear. A cloaked silhouette stood on a rooftop, almost on the exact spot he and Kotetsu occupied earlier. One glance at him almost made Barnaby freeze in terror  _ — _ not for himself, but because there was a chance of losing the criminal now.

_ “Ladies and gentlemen, what a turn of events! Unexpected for everyone, Lunatic just appeared on the scene!”  _ Mario continued to narrate, while a second spotlight moved to the vigilante's frame, revealing the grays, greens and blues of his cloak, the painted onto his mask eyes seemed to look over the scene below. 

“Give me a break!” Kotetsu yelled at the newcomer, his voice full of annoyed anger, his posture changing to defensive as he turned to face Lunatic.

“The voice of true justice cannot take a break,” Lunatic replied calmly, his finger rising to the fake lips on his mask. “Don’t tell me, you are ready to defend even someone like that. Admit it,  _ Kotetsu, _ even you thought about it, at least once, that a sinner who fell so low might not deserve a chance to live,” Lunatic chuckled starting to raise his crossbow.

A longest of seconds passed, everything quieting down to the point it became deafening. Kotetsu leaned backwards, almost as if ready to make a step away, but he didn’t move. “It’s Wild Tiger for you,” he groaned, his voice loud and clear. His hand flew into the air, a grappling hook shooting to wrap around Lunatic’s wrist. “Bunny!”

Hearing his own nickname brought Barnaby back from his momentary stupor. He turned towards their culprit, seeing him deciding to use the commotion as the mean of escaping. The light of his powers was still engulfing Origami, who was now crouched on the ground, the culprit himself running towards Rock Bison and Fire Emblem.

The flash of orange flames spread from Fire Emblem’s hand, hitting the ground in front of the guy, making him jump to the side, but it didn’t halt his movement. His body started to glow again, his own powers flying towards the cladded in red hero, who managed to move away the last moment.

Barnaby couldn’t approach the culprit directly, but there were other means of stopping him. He quickly looked around for anything usable in a combat and spotted several trash cans. Sprinting into their direction, he kicked one of them as hard as he could, sending it flying towards the criminal, hitting him with the waste-filled container on the back and sending him flying to the ground.

There were cheering sounds in his ear, Mario continued to speak nonsense to please the audience. In this cacophony, Barnaby clearly picked out Kotetsu’s warning and looked at his partner seeing him grappling Lunatic by the ankle, both now soaring above the level of the rooftops. Another ear-piercing screech followed, a flash of blue darting off his crossbow, flying towards the knocked out criminal.

There was no time to think, no time to weigh all pros and cons. He blamed Kotetsu’s influence for that, but the only thing that crossed his mind as he was activating his hundred powers was that he couldn’t allow their only hope to save an innocent life to perish tonight. Running faster than the flaming crossbow bolt, he reached the still laying on the ground guy, grabbing him by the jacket and dragging him away.

Everything turned blue for a moment, the raging flames of Lunatic’s attack, Barnaby’s own power. His vision became clouded, and there was no way of stopping the momentum of his movement. Still clenching onto the criminal, Barnaby collided with the solid mass of Rock Bison’s armor and, to his astonishment, the other hero didn’t even bulge, grabbing the two of them in both of his arms instead.

Barnaby’s ears rang, his eyes was starting to tear, but even then he saw the culprit activating his abilities again. He tried to jump away, untangle himself from Bison’s grip, who wasn’t even holding him, just had used his arm to slow Barnaby down, but it was too late. A new flash of light engulfed all three of them, slipped right through Barnaby’s armor as if he wasn’t even wearing it, seeming to go straight under his skin, setting every nerve in his body on fire.

Falling to his knees, Barnaby started to gasp for air, feeling as if he was choking. The sensation disappeared as fast as it came, but it was replaced with something different, something familiar but completely unwelcomed in his current situation. His whole body became hot, and he could feel perspiration forming under his undersuit, finding just enough space between his skin and the body tight material to roll down his spine.

He looked up and, to his great surprise, immediately spotted what was most likely the most gorgeous person he’d ever came across. His face might not have been ideally proportioned, but together with messy brown hair falling onto his eyes, it was only adding into his charm. Messy brown hair was especially attractive.

Catching himself thinking it, Barnaby almost wanted to laugh, because he remembered seeing the pictures of the culprit before, and he was not _gorgeous_  by any standards. Barely average was how Barnaby remembered it. Now, however, it was like seeing him in a different light. He was still struggling in Rock Bison’s grip, two more flashes of light hitting the armored hero, yet it did nothing to help him escape.

“Ha, you can try paralyzing me all day long,” Bison laughed. “It just makes me even more unmovable.”

Barnaby found himself envious. He would’ve liked to be in Bison’s place now, wanting to be the one holding the guy, wanting to... his eyes widened and he looked away, nauseous from his own line of thought. Trying to suppress the trembles in his body, he concentrated on keeping his mind blank, wishing to think of nothing but finishing this case and going home to... Barnaby wasn’t even sure what he could come home to.

Hearing the sirens of police cars gave him at least some sort of a distraction. Mario’s voice in his helmet announced the departure of Lunatic and Rock Bison scoring his first points from capturing a criminal in the new season. Agnes was speaking too, but he couldn’t understand a word she was saying.

Another sound appeared behind him — the heavy footsteps and clanking of metal-like alloy of the armor suit Barnaby though he could recognize anywhere. This familiarity managed to calm him down, concentrate on a single point of reality that was his partner.

“Now you...” Kotetsu breathed out, his intonation remaining on an angry side. “You don’t even have an idea what you’re going to go through in the next years.”

The criminal stopped his attempts to struggle, now staring at Kotetsu amused. “Why are you guys after me, anyway? I didn’t think the First League would chase me because of a few stolen credit cards.”

“Oh, really now?” Bison grumbled. “How about a dozen or so of sexual assaults? Does it ring any bell?”

“Huh, what’s wrong with that?”

“I don’t think ‘wrong’ can really cover it,” Fire Emblem sighed, helping Origami to get up from the ground.

“Ah, I see what's happening,” the guy chuckled. “You are just being bitter ‘cause you envy my powers. We’re all men here, we can understand each-other.”

“There’s nothing about you I want to understand!” Kotetsu snapped in obvious disgust.

“Oh, don’t even try it, I know any normal guy would do the same on my place, be he able to get a lay whenever he wished to,” he moved his shoulders in a manner that could've been a shrug, but it was difficult to tell with him being still almost completely immobilized. “I wasn’t really harming anyone.”

It was a rare occasion a criminal Barnaby chased after was causing him this amount of anger. Even through the weird mind-haze he was still experiencing looking at the culprit, he found himself wishing he’d never protected him from Lunatic’s bolt of flames, even if the consequences of it would've been more dire.

“Really?” Kotetsu said, and this time his voice lacked almost any emotion, the man himself standing completely still. His hand rose to touch the sensors on his helmet. “Agnes, are we still on air?” he asked very calmly.

Through his own communicator, Barnaby heard the show director replying that no, they’ve been on a commercial break for the last thirty second out if usual two minutes.

The next two seconds, as it turned out, was enough for Kotetsu to move forward, his fist colliding with the guy’s jaw so fast and hard it knocked him completely unconscious. He was breathing hard as he stepped back, then flinched as if surprised by his own actions.

_ “Well, what would you know,” _ Agnes sighed after a brief moment of silence, _ “I’ve never thought I’d live to see the day some criminal would  _ accidentally _ fall on Tiger’s fist like that.” _

“Yeah, well,” Kotetsu shook his head looking over the unconscious man. Then he turned to Barnaby. “You alright there?”

Barnaby wasn’t alright, he was as far from being in this condition. He was still half sitting on the ground gazing upon his partner, noticing for the first time the man’s armor was scorched in places, a crack running down one of his armguards — most likely the evidence of his fight with Lunatic.

Kneeling in front of him, Kotetsu reached for his helmet, removing the plate that was covering his face, and this simple action almost made Barnaby gasp. It wasn’t the same as when he was looking at the culprit they captured, his partner didn’t look any different, but all of the feelings Barnaby had been keeping a secret for such a long time seemed to intensify until becoming unbearable.

Barnaby hated he could only see Kotetsu through his visor, so he hurried to move it out of the way, to admire the handsome features of his partner, even if they were still partially hidden by his signature mask. His eyes stopped on the man’s full lips and Barnaby’s mouth went dry at the sheer force of his desire to find out how it would feel to kiss him.

He wondered what was the point of keeping it a secret, why he had never even attempted explaining everything to Kotetsu. Something on the corner of his mind was still cautioning him Kotetsu was most likely to deny him, that it could jeopardize their friendship, but all those reasoning seemed so dull and distant now.

Starting to grin widely with no real reason behind it, Barnaby moved forward, his hands wrapping around Kotetsu’s neck, who seemed to be completely taken aback, unable to react in any way to the advance. Taking it as a positive sign, Barnaby leaned in even further, ready to bring their lips together. Instead of the long-awaited kiss, however, Barnaby heard a clink of the chin bars of their helmets colliding, his face stopping only inches away from Kotetsu’s surprised one. That annoyed him immensely, so he tried to manoeuvre himself into a better position, still trying to reach his partner’s lips while clenching to his neck.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Kotetsu yelped, finally catching on with what was happening and pushing Barnaby away, trying to move into the opposite direction at the same time. He fumbled and fell onto his rear, staring at Barnaby in utter shock.

This rejection hurt Barnaby, and the feeling of it was unpleasant. It turned into agitation, and agitation turned into anger. He wanted Kotetsu to be his, he needed it so badly it was almost suffocating, and the thought about taking what he wanted by force occurred in his mind.

And then he froze, realizing what was happening to him. “Kotetsu?” he called cautiously, his own eyes becoming wider. “I’m sorry, I...” he didn’t know what he wanted to apologize for, for trying to kiss Kotetsu or for everything else, starting with lying to him in the first place.

And then the panic of realization hit him. No matter how much he tried, his plan about staying out of everyone's way didn't come through, and saying he was in trouble was a serious understatement.

"I was hit by a disintegration ray," he chuckled feeling hysterical.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, now there are 7 chapters, because chapter 6 got almost twice longer than any previous ones, and I haven't even finished writing it.
> 
> Also, 11 years age difference, because Hiroaki Hirata mentioned it was on the script, and I'm rolling with it.

There wasn't much space inside the Apollon truck, but somehow Kotetsu found it to be enough to pace. On a better day if would’ve annoyed Barnaby, and right now he wanted to snap and yell at his partner just so he would stop doing it. It was wrong to be even considering it, because in the end it wasn’t Kotetsu’s fault, it was Barnaby’s own doing that lead to this result. Yet, he was barely holding himself from unleashing his frustration. It was like he had his own hundred power active, but instead of strength and speed, it was increasing his every emotion.

“We got it wrong, we got it all wrong!” Kotetsu turned to him, his arms flying into the air.

“Kotetsu,” Barnaby called as calmly as he only could, but it fell on deaf ears.

“What was I even thinking going with this? I mean a power that only affects virgins? How crazy it sounds?”

“Kotetsu,” Barnaby tried again, a little louder this time.

“How could I even believe it, go with this explanation without double checking it, triple checking it?” he was continuing.

It was a rare occasion for Kotetsu to do a single check on anything, not to mention the nonsense spewing out of his mouth now, but trying to blame himself for everything was a part of his nature, so it was what he was doing now.

“Kotetsu stop it!” Barnaby demanded standing up from the bench, forcing his partner to look at him. He regretted it almost immediately, because the room began spinning around him, and he barely managed to keep himself upwards. “No-one was wrong here but me,” he admitted in a more hushed manner.

“Yes, I know you were the one proposing this, but I am your partner, I should've looked into it too. At least a little.”

“Oh dear,” Fire Emblem sighed, “he sure is slow.”

The three other heroes were in the truck too, sitting quietly in different corners, pretending to be a part of the interior design — literally in Origami’s case, because Barnaby didn’t see the shape changing hero anywhere and couldn’t imagine Saito ever deciding to get a large potted plant for their transportable base of operations.

Technically all of them were cleared to go home, but they stayed to make sure Barnaby was going to be alright. On one hand, it was humbling to have such caring friends, but on another hand, he would’ve preferred not to be in this situation in the first place, wanting everyone to just leave him alone.

“I should not have been here,” Barnaby clarified dropping to sit on the bench again.

In the silence that followed it was practically possible to hear gears turning in Kotetsu’s head. He was looking at Barnaby surprised, his eyes so wide that in any other circumstances Barnaby would’ve thought it to be comical. Slowly, he descended on the bench on the opposite from his partner’s side, his gaze moving to the floor under his feet, his hands resting calmly on his knees. “But I though... you said...” he started then shook his head. “What were you thinking?”

It was different from any other time Kotetsu was trying to admonish him. He wasn’t raising his voice, he wasn’t trying to sound like a fatherly figure who thought he knew what was best for his partner. Instead, Kotetsu sounded so cold and distant it made Barnaby very nervous.

He knew what happened was completely his fault, but being on the receiving end of this quiet judgment was too much. He'd believed none of the people present here could say anything Barnaby hadn’t thought about, couldn’t add any more guilt to what he’d already been feeling, but Kotetsu's words did manage to accomplish it without doubt.

“This is my issue to deal with,” he announced standing up again, slower this time, because sudden movement were causing him a vertigo. Taking careful, measured steps, he proceeded towards the exit from the truck. “I’ll figure it out, so don’t worry about it.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Kotetsu asked.

“I’m going home,” he announced.

“In your hero suit?”

Barnaby looked down at his fully armored self. He was behaving stupidly, he knew going home in the suit wasn’t the greatest idea, but he couldn’t exactly start taking it off either, because he didn’t want to explain to anyone why he was suddenly feeling so excited.

“Wait just a moment!” Kotetsu called for him, following him and grabbing him by the hand.

Barnaby's body trembled at the contact, even though he couldn't feel the touch, the layers of plastic and metal between them. He found himself wishing to dare Kotetsu to continue, to let his anger out completely, to push Barnaby against the wall and rip his suit off without a single care about damaging it. He also wanted to tear Kotetsu’s underarmor, to run his hands down his body, to taste every inch of him, leaving blossoming marks on his tanned skin as a symbol of possession.

Instead, he pulled his hand away from the other man's grip, trying to calm down his breathing. “Please, don’t,” he whispered, shutting his eyes close, which caused him an immense discomfort, like if they were full of sand, and Barnaby remembered he hadn't gotten to removing his contact lenses either.

The hand holding him disappeared, and he heard Kotetsu stepping away. “We need to take you to a hospital.”

“No,” Barnaby replied quickly. He couldn’t imagine the amount of embarrassment he would have to deal with in a hospital, didn’t want to allow anyone else to see him like this.

“Alright, now you’re being an idiot,” Rock Bison interfered with a sigh. “Not only you’re in danger, you’re also dangerous to people around you.”

Barnaby opened his eyes looking at Bison. In all the commotion, the idea that he could also go on a crazed rampage sort of slipped his mind. It was true, he needed to forget about his pride and allow to be treated. He also needed to be locked away. The thought wasn’t cheering, but there was nothing he could do about it at this point.

Turning to face the white metal wall, Barnaby leaned onto it, placing his hand against its surface, his forehead coming to rest on the armguard of his suit. “Yeah, you’re right,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

***

The hospital Barnaby was moved to was just a street away from the Justice Tower. The particular wing he ended up was designated for treating dangerous criminals and in reality was more of a prison but with lighter walls and cleaner cells.

A long corridor was separated from the rest of the facility with a set of reinforced metal doors, a row of gray plastic chairs following one of its walls. On another side from the chairs were doors leading into personal wards, each having a window overlooking it from the corridor. The glass on these windows was thick, bulletproof, and every window on the outside had metal bars covering them.

There were actual restrains on Barnaby’s bed, a set of strong metal handcuffs, and his only saving grace was the fact he wasn’t cuffed. He just sincerely hoped it was going to stay this way.

Barnaby’s condition at the moment wasn’t critical, and it was deemed unnecessary to give him any sedatives, at least until morning, when the doctors were going to run the second test on the hormone levels in his blood. For now, after successfully arguing the rest of the heroes out of the hospital, Barnaby was simply locked in his ward, grateful for being given some privacy at least for a while.

It was way past the midnight and he felt exhausted. At the same time, as he laid on the cot in the dimly illuminated room, he couldn’t come even close to falling asleep. There wasn’t a separate air conditioning unit in his ward which he could turn on maximum and his body felt hot, sweaty. On top of that, he had to fight arousal that was coming at him in strong waves, almost leaving him breathless each time it was happening.

Other times he felt absolutely normal, as if there wasn’t anything wrong with him. His body was relaxing, and he was thinking that maybe this time the calm could last longer, but then it was repeating all over again, tearing uncontrollable whimpers from his throat.

He’d never felt anything like that before. Granted the body of a twenty-seven years old man had its needs, and it wasn’t like he was clueless about ways of dealing with it, but it had never been to the point when every muscle of his body hurt.

Unsure what else to do with himself, Barnaby got up from the bed and went to the lavatory, pulling the dump hospital shirt off. It was a tiny room with a sliding door, almost pitch black inside, but turning on the lights seemed too much of an effort. There was no shower in here, which he found extremely regrettable, but at least it had a small sink he could use to wet a towel and wipe his sticky skin, bringing temporarily relief to his overheating body.

Standing in front of a small mirror, in which he could see nothing but his own barely distinguishable silhouette, he pondered about dealing with another issue. It was possible it could help him with falling asleep, but Barnaby also knew if he was going to do it now, he would most likely end up thinking about Kotetsu. He was aware that, with the way things were progressing, very soon he wasn’t going to have a choice, but for now he decided to cling to his sanity for as long as it was possible.

Leaving the lavatory, he pondered about trying to sleep again, but he still felt too restless. Instead, he sat on his cot, staring at an empty wall which looked gray in the dark for what felt like hours.

A sound of someone knocking on the window reached his ears and, glancing at it, he saw a small figure standing in the corridor in front of his ward. He didn’t recognize the person, but decided to go and find out what they wanted.

The main lights in the corridor were off this late at night, but there was one row of lamps still illuminating it, making it enough to see the girl standing in front of the window almost clearly. She was very young, probably sixteen or seventeen, dressed in a simple gray blouse and blue jeans. Her long, wavy hair was coming down her shoulders, the raven-black color of which was especially accented by her fair complexion.

“I hope I’m not disturbing,” she said quietly, yet Barnaby was still able to hear her through several drilled holes in the glass designed for interrogating the sort of people usually locked in these wards.

“Not really,” Barnaby replied. He moved closer to the window, settling down into a chair in front of it. "Isn’t it a little late for visiting hours?”

The girl nodded. “Perhaps. But my parent work here, so they allowed me to stay overnight.”

“Waiting for you parents then?” Barnaby smiled.

The girl shook her head. “No, my boyfriend is here,” she replied. “That is actually why I came to speak with you. I wanted to thank you.”

Barnaby raised an eyebrow not quite understanding what she meant.

“I saw the Hero TV tonight,” she continued looking somewhere to the side. “The person you captured, he did something to my boyfriend. I know it might not help him, but I’m glad he wouldn’t be able to harm anyone else.”

Somehow hearing her thanking him managed to brighten Barnaby’s mood. While he had an excessive amount of fans, more often he was praised for his looks and social status, rather than his work, so hearing such honest words was refreshing.

“Alex? Is that your boyfriend’s name?” Barnaby asked understanding it was probably here the guy was sent to after being taken from the Apollon building.

The girl’s eyes returned to him, her expression turning surprised. “You know him?”

Leaning closer to the glass, Barnaby nodded. “We wouldn’t have captured that criminal if it wasn’t for his help. He is the real hero here,” he said before he could even realize he sounded like Kotetsu now. It almost made him laugh to think how much he had taken after his partner.

The girl blushed, biting her lower lip. “Thank you, it means a lot.”

Barnaby smiled again. It wasn't one of his mannered smiles he used in front of cameras or a crowd of fans, this one he gave because he felt like doing it and not because he was required. "What is your name by the way?" he asked.

“Namila,” she smiled back a little timidly.

“Namila,” Barnaby nodded. “You know my friends are doing everything to figure out how to treat what he’s going through.”

She sighed. “I know. I hope it will work out.”

“I’m sure it will,” he encouraged her, hoping sincerely it was the case.

***

The morning came rather unexpectedly. Not because Barnaby had lost the track of time, but because he hadn’t expected to fall asleep in the first place and wake up only when it was bright and sunny outside. He turned to his side and winced. At first because he felt a throb of a headache and then because of an unpleasant sensation of stickiness over his abdomen, which very obviously was not his perspiration. _That_ hadn’t happened to him in the last ten years.

Groaning and reaching for his glasses, he climbed off his cot, going to the lavatory again, hoping to clean himself at least to the point no-one would be able to notice anything strange. He doubted the doctors would judge him in his condition, but it was simply too embarrassing.

Pulling the shirt off, he assessed the damage. The fabric of the hospital gallon was mostly spared, so cleaning it wasn’t too difficult. Standing in front of the sink, however, allowed him to see the reflection of his own face in the mirror, and he didn’t like what he saw. His eyes were reddened and there were dark circles under them. The stubble on his cheeks was less prominent due to the color of his hair, but it was there and he doubted he was going to be given a chance to shave any time soon.

Looking around he spotted a bar of cheap soap on the sink, but it was the only item of personal hygiene available to him at the moment, so he could do nothing besides washing his face.

“Hey, Bunny?” he heard Kotetsu’s voice and froze, realizing he was in no way ready to talk to his partner yet. On top of that, the voice alone was enough to recollect the content of the dreams he’d had last night, and it made him shiver, the arousal that had subsided returning full strength.

It only went worse from there, because Barnaby heard the door into his room opening and closing. Cautiously, he moved the sliding door of the lavatory out of the way, just enough to poke his head out, and saw that his fear about Kotetsu being stupid enough to unlock his ward and walk in came true.

“Oh, Bunny, there you are,” Kotetsu nodded moving to approach the tiny restroom. “Are you alright?”

Barnaby was mostly in control over his reactions, but he was worried it wasn’t going to last. More than anything he wanted the last night, when he almost kissed Kotetsu, not to repeat itself. “Get out,” he hissed. Then, not to sound completely rude, he added, “please.”

Either because his voice was too weak for Kotetsu to hear, or because the other man simply decided to ignore it, he didn’t stop. “I brought you some basic things. I doubt you had a chance to brush your teeth yet,” he announced cheerfully, holding out a plastic bag.

Taking several deep breaths to calm himself down, Barnaby opened his door completely, glaring at the other man. He felt like snapping again, but instead of yelling at Kotetsu, he found himself wishing to do something completely different. He couldn’t allow himself to act on it, and he doubted he could hold for long.

It wasn’t how he wished to tell Kotetsu about his attraction. To tell the truth, he’d never wished to tell him about it, but now he had no other choice. “I swear, if you not going to be out of this room in the next ten seconds, I’m going to do something both of us are going to regret.”

Kotetsu stared at him wide-eyed for a second, then his eyes slid down Barnaby’s still shirtless body, stopping on the front of his pants. His face changed its color, becoming several shades redder, as if the realization of what was happening to Barnaby hit him for the first time. Dropping the bag onto the bed, he rushed out of Barnaby’s sight, as fast as if he’d just activated his powers.

Not being able to see Kotetsu eased Barnaby's condition, but he was left to stand there alone, feeling completely miserable. He waited for Kotetsu to appear behind the window, but a moment passed, then another and it didn’t happen. Both the door and the window were situated on the same wall, less than five feet away from each-other — a distance that shouldn't have taken anyone that long to cross, which meant Kotetsu left him for good.

Walking slowly towards the door, Barnaby placed his hand on it, something inside him twisting and turning in the most unpleasant manner. His legs became shaky and he found himself falling to his knees, tears starting to run down his cheeks. It was pathetic to be reacting like this, but he couldn’t control it, couldn’t even start willing his body to stop.

He had expected Kotetsu to react negatively, knew his partner wasn’t going to take well Barnaby’s interest in him. He’d also known it was going to hurt, but never had he taken into a consideration his hormone-induced state to make everything so much worse.

“Bunny?” Kotetsu's voice came unexpectedly from behind the door, making him realize the man hadn't actually left, but was standing right outside. “Are you crying?”

“No,” Barnaby blurted out and then covered his mouth to muffle the sounds. “Yes,” he corrected himself, deciding there was no way he could fall any lower in his partner's eyes, so there was no point in lying to him now.

Silence followed and Barnaby though Kotetsu wasn’t going to say anything else. Yet, after a while, he spoke again. “I’m really mad at you, you know.”

“I know,” Barnaby replied trying to suppress another whimper. “You have a right to be.”

A chuckle came from Kotetsu, but it sounded more ironic, rather than over something funny. “What were you even thinking? Was it really so embarrassing for you to admit you were a virgin? Or did you think we wouldn’t have been able to handle it without you?”

Barnaby almost hiccuped hearing the question. “So, it’s the only thing you’re mad about?”

“Only?” Kotetsu groaned. “What else do you think I’m supposed to be mad about?”

“Well, like me almost kissing you, or what happened ten minutes ago,” Barnaby shrugged. Somehow, by this point he managed to stop weeping and now turned around, leaning his back on the door, his knees gathered to his chest.

Barnaby heard the man sigh, then something softly bumped into the door from another side and slid down its surface, and he guessed it was Kotetsu deciding to mirror his sitting pose without even knowing it. “It’s not like you have control over it,” the older man replied. “I admit it was a surprise though. I mean, I’ve known you for what... three years now? I had no idea you preferred men. Not that it matters really, neither it’s any of my business.”

This time it was Barnaby's turn to be surprised. “Huh?” he made a sound, confused why his partner came to such a conclusion. Granted, out of any other conclusions Barnaby had ever witnessed him jumping to, this one seemed to have a lot more sense, but Barnaby couldn’t say Kotetsu was correct.

Truth be told, he wasn’t even sure whom he preferred. His first crush was a woman, but it had been a singular instance and Barnaby couldn't say he actually wanted to have sex with her. After realizing he was attracted to Kotetsu in this manner, he tried to watch a few... specific videos online, but they caused no reaction in him. On another hand, these types of movies, no matter what gender the actors were, had never caused any reaction in him, so he’d never thought much about it.

Yet, he couldn’t tell any of it to Kotetsu, so perhaps him thinking Barnaby was gay was for the best. On top of that, Kotetsu just admitted he considered it none of his business, which was ridiculous to think about, because his partner made absolute sure to make _everything_ in Barnaby’s life his business, starting from what he ate, and whether or not he was getting enough sleep and ending with how often he was hanging out with the rest of the heroes.

“Well, we were interrogating that guy last night. The bastard pleaded he didn't even know his victims were dying. Not that it makes it any better. But well, his ability, it always makes people attracted to him, no matter their preferences, but afterwards they start seeking out people who otherwise would be... um... their type?” he paused. “Alright, now I made it sound weird.”

“No, for once you are making sense,” Barnaby snorted, even if there was nothing funny in it.

“Oi,” Kotetsu kicked at the door. “You’ve already ruined my dream of seeing you settling down and having a gorgeous wife and a few kids almost as cute as my Kaede, at least make someone young and handsome to be your type.”

Barnaby had a lot to say about it, like that it wasn’t really his decision what type of people was his, or that there wasn’t really a type to begin with. Or that Kotetsu himself was in fact handsome, and eleven years wasn’t really that big of a gap. People all over the world, with even greater difference in age, kept finding each-other and making each-other happy.

“Didn’t you just say it was none of your business?” he asked instead, trying to sound lighthearted.

“Well, I guess it isn’t,” Kotetsu replied with a sigh. “Alright, I have to run for now, see if Saito came up with something.”

Barnaby heard him standing up and felt a tug of desperation. He didn’t want Kotetsu to leave, but he knew it was for the best. Sooner or later he would stop being able to suppress his reactions completely, and he didn’t want Kotetsu to be around for that.

“I’m going to return some time after noon, do you need anything?”

Barnaby felt his face heating up, which was a good sign, meaning during their conversation he’d managed to calm down a little. It was also a bad sign, because he did need something from his apartment, and Kotetsu even happened to have an access to it, the same way Barnaby had a spare set of keys from Kotetsu’s place, in case of an emergency.

Yet, even thinking about making such a request was sending Barnaby into a round of nervous trembles. He imagined Kotetsu digging through his personal things and brought his palms to cover his face. “Y... yes,” he managed still deciding his need for this particular item was greater than his pride. “Und... underwear.”

“Yeah, ok,” Kotetsu replied sounding so casual as if he was asked to bring him some coffee and snacks. “I’ll get you some spare clothes just in case too. And Bunny?” he added, his voice sounding a little more distant, like if he made a step or two away from the door.

“Yeah?” Barnaby echoed.

“We’ll figure it out,” he encouraged the same way Barnaby had encouraged the young girl that came to thank him last night. Kotetsu’s intonation made him imagine the man fixing his silly ascot cap, even if he hadn’t seen him wearing one in quite a while. “I’m not allowing anyone else on my watch to...” he paused, “we'll figure it out.”

***

The rest of the morning Barnaby had spent performing tests. Never in his life he'd remembered so many blood samples being taken from him, his brain scanned twice in only three hours.

His condition started to deteriorate closer to the middle of the day. It was manageable, and he didn’t feel as if he was almost ready to snap and become violent, but he was still given a few shots of something he didn’t even care to ask what it was.

His doctor was not the same one who’d accepted him as a patient last night. The previous one he clearly remembered to be a man, while the one working with him now was a woman. He didn’t know it for sure, but he could imagine Kotetsu’s lack of respect for his privacy and overcaring nature had something to do with it.

She looked young and well taken care of, but her black, wavy hair was exactly the same shade as Namila’s, which together with the girl mentioning her parents worked here, told Barnaby it was most likely her mother.

She was as professional as a doctor could be, but she didn’t look all that trilled working on this particular case. For this exact reason, Barnaby was glad he decided against mentioning he’d talked to her daughter, afraid it had a chance to make the atmosphere between them even more awkward.

On top of it, at the end of his checkup, he himself started to wish the ground could come alive and swallow him whole, as she proposed he could use the blinders on the ward’s window if he needed some privacy.

The worst part of it was that by this point, despite the drugs he was given, Barnaby not only wanted to do it but desperately needed it. When he was able to reach his ward, he wasn’t even bothering with the blinders, moving straight into the restroom, pulling his pants down the moment the lavatory door slid shut behind his back.

His boxer were tight enough that together with the loose hospital gallon his arousal was unnoticeable from aside, but he was aching. Not only that, it felt like his entire abdomen was on fire. Touching himself felt painful, and he almost wailed as his fingers came into contact with the skin of his erection, forcing him to pull his hand away.

His head was spinning, his thoughts clouded by desire he couldn’t satisfy. Desperate, he tried again, shutting his eyes close and biting his lower lip to distract himself from the discomfort his touches were causing, but it wasn’t helping. Instead of feeling relieved, it was like rubbing himself against sandpaper.

Someone was knocking on his window again. “Bunny?” Kotetsu’s voice called him. “Bunny, are you there?”

To Barnaby’s complete surprise the almost unbearable pain started to disappear. He knew it was completely wrong, but he couldn’t stop from taking himself into his hand again. “One moment,” he responded as clear as he could, trying to keep his voice even.

“Alright, just stay in the restroom, I’m going to come in and drop the bag on your bed,” Kotetsu warned. “I’ll be super quick, I promise.”

A whimper rose up Barnaby’s throat and almost escaped him. He barely caught it, covering his mouth with the palm of his free hand. Giving up on his reserves, Barnaby allowed his mind wander into directions he’d never allowed it to go before, imagining it was Kotetsu touching him, caressing him, hoping at the same time the man wouldn’t stop talking.

Thankfully, Kotetsu’s chatty personality didn’t fail. “Ok, your bag is on the bed, I also packed your own razors and shaving gel and your toothbrush, instead of the cheap ones I got you this morning. Huh, do you actually have a place to plug it in here?”

Barnaby couldn’t answer his question, he couldn’t do anything, but neither he cared about it.

“You sound in pain. Are you alright?” Kotetsu asked, his voice sounding so much closer this time, as if he was almost standing next to the lavatory door. “Bunny?”

The last part was what finally did it for Barnaby. With a strained groan, mostly muffled by his own hand, leaning on the wall behind him, he came into his own hand.

Three deep breaths later he looked down at himself in horrified shock, realizing what happened. Sliding down the wall he landed on the floor, tears starting to run down his cheeks for the second time this day. He felt dirty, he felt undignified and, most of all, he felt as if he just betrayed his friend’s trust.

“Bunny!” Kotetsu knocked. “You’re totally not ok, and I’m coming in,” he warned after a short pause.

Barnaby couldn’t find any strength to even answer him, he was just sitting on the floor, clenching his dirty hand in a fist and crying, feeling as if his life ended in the most disgraceful manner imaginable.

He heard the door sliding open, Kotetsu stepping into the tiny space of the lavatory, yet Barnaby couldn’t even dare to look in his direction, too afraid to see the other man’s expression.

“You look like a mess,” Kotetsu sighed, sounding surprisingly gentle. Kneeling beside him, he placed his hand on Barnaby’s shoulder, “Can you clean yourself up on your own, or do you need help?”

The question made Barnaby want to laugh, because he couldn’t even understand how Kotetsu managed to stay so calm and caring witnessing it all. It also made him want to reach out and find himself in the older man’s embrace, being held by him, and it was a dangerous wish.

“Please, just go away,” he whispered shaking his head.

***

Fifteen minutes later Barnaby felt better. He was still embarrassed about what happened to the point he wished he could never have to face anyone, but his condition improved significantly, his head becoming clearer.

Wiping his body with a wet towel and changing into clean clothes, which included both a fresh pair of boxer briefs and a new hospital gallon that Kotetsu had fetched for him, helped a great deal too. It would’ve been even better if he could take a real shower, but for that he needed to go to the communal ones, and he wasn't sure it was safe.

Kotetsu had left him alone when asked, but he hadn’t left the facility, waiting patiently for his partner to finish, sitting in the corridor in front of Barnaby’s ward, seemingly lost in thought. At least, it was how Barnaby found him as he approached the glass from his side of the room.

“Kotetsu,” he called quietly, trying to bring the man’s attention to him.

Blinking once, Kotetsu looked up, his lips stretching in a small smile. He stood from one of the folding chairs and moved to the window, tugging the said chair with him. “Feeling better?” he asked.

For the first time that day Barnaby noticed how tired Kotetsu looked. The man had mentioned they were interrogating the criminal last night, then mentioned being with Saito as the engineer ran some tests. Only now he understood his partner most likely didn’t get any sleep and his guilt only intensified.

“A little,” Barnaby nodded. “Sorry you had to witness it all.”

“Hey,” Kotetsu chuckled bumping his fist into the glass. “We are a team, right? Seeing each-other at the lowest is no big deal.”

Barnaby stared at the fist in front of him wanting to bump it back, but then shook his head deciding himself unworthy.

Kotetsu seemed disappointed by it, but his soft smile never faltered. “The rest of heroes are sending you well wishes, by the way.”

Barnaby looked surprised at his partner, the level of his embarrassment rising. “Does everyone know about this?”

Kotetsu rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, not exactly. Obviously those who present when it happened do. Also we had to tell Agnes and Lloyds, because, well... also Saito, as he cooperates with the doctors here trying to figure out how to fix it. For the rest of the world, a broken rib is the story.”

“I see,” Barnaby nodded. “Thank you. And I assume no news from the doc?” he guessed.

Even if Barnaby tried to remain hopeful, the way Kotetsu’s smile disappeared from his face as he looked away was an answer enough. “Not yet, but we called in a few places, gathering results from the autopsy of other victims. I’m sure something will—”

He didn’t finish his sentence, interrupted by a muffled scream from the other end of the corridor, both of them jumping to their feet, turning to the direction the noise came from.

It was a split of a second decision, Barnaby didn’t even had time to think about his behavior endangering anyone. It was as if his hero nature had taken a full control of his body that moment, and he was moving away from the window and opening the still unlocked door of his ward.

There were doctors appearing out of nowhere in the corridor, moving towards the room five wards away from the one Barnaby was placed in. He could also see three civilians next to the window overlooking that ward. One of them Barnaby recognized as Namilla, while the other two he hadn’t seen before, but they carried a familiar resemblance to Alex.

As he and Kotetsu approached close enough to see the inflicted with the NEXT powers teenager, Barnaby’s blood almost froze in his veins. There were doctors surrounding him, two of them were trying to hold his convulsing body, while the third one was strapping him to the bed, trying to give him a shot of sedatives as soon as one of his wrists was safely locked in place.

Alex was struggling, kicking the doctors with his still free legs, his head turned to the window, hungry eyes unmistakably tracking the single person in the field of his vision.

The picture of it was terrifying, but Barnaby knew exactly what he could do in this situation. Without a trace of hesitation he rushed towards the terrified girl Alex was looking at, tugging her away from the scene.

Confused, she tried to resist at first, but Barnaby wasn't giving up either. “Come on, Namila, please,” he said seriously. “It will be better for him not to see you right now.”

She looked at him, like if she couldn’t understand what he meant. Then she turned to Kotetsu, then back to Barnaby, her eyes widening. “Alright, yes,” she nodded finally, stepping away, hurrying to the other side of of the corridor, tears forming in her eyes.

The moment Alex couldn’t see Namila, he started to calm down. He still looked bad, overexerting, but there was nothing more Barnaby could do for him.

Another realization made him shiver inwardly, and he stepped backwards almost bumping into Kotetsu. There was only a day of difference between the time Alex and Barnaby were afflicted. Just one more day and Barnaby was going to find himself in the same exact spot.


	5. Chapter 5

****That night Barnsby wasn’t able to get much sleep either. Aching all over and nauseous, he was tossing and turning until way past two in the morning. When he was finally able to drift away, it wasn’t deep and only unsettling dreams were filling his mind.

He woke up with a startle, from a sensation that he couldn’t understand at first, until he felt wet warmth spreading beneath the fabric of his underwear. With an utter despair he realized he came again, except instead of being pleasurable, it was mostly pain he experienced.

Through two sets of windows separating him from the outside world, he could see it was still dark, not even a hint of the dawn approaching, but he doubted he was lucky enough to fall asleep for the second time. Rubbing his tired eyes, he stood up from the cot and reached for his phone to check the time, seeing it was almost five o’clock.

He could no longer deny his need for a shower, his sweaty body feeling disgusting, his hair greasy, sticking to his neck. Putting his glasses on, he turned to the bag Kotetsu had brought him. He really wished he could go though his usual routine of showering, but he knew he couldn’t allow himself to stay there for too long, so a bottle of shampoo and one of his own towels were the only two things that he pulled out of the bag.

When it was done, Barnaby turned towards the door, but when he tried to turn the handle, it didn’t bulge. Distantly he remembered the doctor proposing to lock him from outside for tonight. It wasn’t the greatest of solutions, because if it came down to it, nothing short of locking him in a volt could stop him, but he’d agreed to it anyway, deciding not to argue with the medical staff.

He almost turned around, intending to use the call button next to his cot, but one glance through the window made him stop and groan in quiet frustration. There, in the same folding chair, which in no way looked comfortable, was sitting Kotetsu. To be more precise, he was sleeping in it, head fallen backwards, perched against the wall, mouth open.

Barnaby was aware the other man hadn’t gotten much sleep in the past two nights either, but he took his phone again, starting to dial Kotetsu's number.

He saw his partner almost jump as his phone rang. Sleepily, he pulled it out of his jacket, answering the call without even glancing at the caller ID. “Hello?” he said into the receiver.

“Didn’t I tell you to go home?” Barnaby asked him not even trying to mask his annoyance. "There is no reason for you to stay here, and I bet sleeping on a bed would be way more comfortable."

Kotetsu frowned listening to him, then his eyes rose to look at Barnaby. Hanging the phone up, he hid the device back into his pocket and rubbed his face. "Well, not happening," he muttered groggily standing up from the chair and approached the window.

“You’re putting yourself at risk,” Barnaby tried to push.

“So do the other people in this facility,” Kotetsu pointed out. “I at least I have hundred power.”

“Four minutes shorter than mine.”

Kotetsu stared at him in a very strange manner, his cheeks puffing up, as if he was trying to hold himself from doing something. “Please, don’t give me openings for really inappropriate jokes,” he said poking the glass with his index finger, same way as he sometimes was poking Barnaby in the chest.

“And you don’t try to change the topic,” Barnaby rolled his eyes.

Kotetsu sighed and any trace of humor disappeared from his expression. “I know, I just...” he said looking away. “I can’t,” he almost pleaded.

There was so much pain in his partner's voice, that it felt like he himself was going to burst into tears. Barnaby wasn’t sure what caused such an emotion in him and, for some reason, he was afraid to find an answer to it. “Could you open the door?” he asked.

“What for?” Kotetsu narrowed his eyes a little distrustful.

Instead of answering, Barnaby held out the towel and the shampoo and, thankfully, it was enough of an explanation for Kotetsu.

He moved away from Barnaby’s view and next moment a quiet click of the lock sounded in the ward. “Give me a minute to go out of your way,” he said.

It was still unclear if moving to a certain distance had any effect. The lost of control was coming and going in waves, and it was probable standing further away wasn't going to help if Barnaby lost it, but at least Kotetsu would to have a better chance of escaping. For now, Barnaby felt a little better, so he assumed it was going to be fine.

Mentally counting to ten before opening the door, Barnaby exited the ward, starting to walk down the corridor without as much as sparing a single glance into his partner’s direction, determined to reach the showers as fast as he could.

Passing the room five doors away from him, he looked at the window leading into Alex’ ward. It was dark inside, impossible to see a thing, but Barnaby hoped the teenager felt better, calmed down enough to at least being able to get some rest.

He almost passed the room completely, when he noticed something was off. He had to backtrack a few steps to see what exactly stroke him as unusual. Alex’ door was ajar, barely a tiny slip, but enough to catch his attention and make him worry something terrible might’ve happened.

Trying to figure out why the door which was supposed to be locked was not, he reached for the handle and opened it completely. He heard Kotetsu asking him what was wrong from the other end of the corridor, but he ignored it, stepping inside the ward instead, instantly reaching for the switch on the wall to turn the lights on.

It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the sudden burst of light, but when they did, he was greeted by a sight he absolutely didn’t expect. To his relief, Alex was still inside, peacefully asleep on his cot. He was not alone there, however. Protectively wrapped in Alex’ arms, Namila was sleeping beside him.

She was also the one who opened her eyes first, looking around the room a little confused until her gaze stopped on Barnaby. A high-pitched whelp followed her awakening, the girl tugging the blanket further over her body, which Barnaby only now realized was unclothed, startling Alex with her movements.

“I’m so sorry!” Barnaby blurted out, quickly turning around and getting out of the room as fast as he could, almost slamming the door behind his back.

By that time Kotetsu was able to catch up with him. “What happened?” he asked concerned, then glanced through the window into the now fully lit room. His eyes went a little wider for a second, and he hurried to turn around. “Ok, you don’t have to answer,” he exhaled.

“We need to call doctors,” Barnaby proposed.

As the door was obviously opened from outside, he could guess it was Namila’s initiative. It also didn't seem like either of them needed medical attention, at least not at a glance, and Barnaby couldn't even start imagining how uncomfortable it was going to be for the girl, considering her parents were going to discover it for sure.

Yet, he knew from experience, some of the ideas appearing in the mind after being exposed to these NEXT abilities were maybe not exactly violent, but he couldn’t call them gentle either. Plus, it was something doctors would need to know about it to keep a better track on Alex’ progress.

“Yeah,” Kotetsu agreed, crossing his arms over his chest and staring uncomfortably on an empty wall. “Just let the poor kids dress.”

***

Two hours after taking the much awaited shower, Barnaby decided it'd been a pointless effort, and he wondered if he just imagined being clean in his delirious state. He felt filthy again, and the last time his muscles hurt that much was when the he’d fought the H-01 unit almost two years ago. It was as if someone kept punching him in the stomach, and Barnaby could do nothing to fight back.

He was given an extra dosage of suppressants but even then, every time Kotetsu was anywhere in the field of his vision, it was like some sort of switch was flipping in his brain, making him want forget about every reason and his own dignity.

His imagination was summoning images he was embarrassed about. Not because of the explicit content of them, but because at some point his brain stopped to care about Kotetsu’s opinion. His thoughts were often switching into the direction he really didn’t want them to go, providing him with messed up directives of simply taking what was supposed to be his.

And to top it all, it was as if Kotetsu couldn’t comprehend the danger he was in. He was refusing to leave the hospital, only taking short breaks to get food and change clothes. At least he was mindful enough to move away from the chair in front on Barnaby’s room. He was still in the corridor, and Barnaby knew if he would come closer to the window, he would be able to spot him on the far side, but at least the man wasn’t constantly looming before his eyes.

As he laid on his coat wishing desperately the pain in his body would go away, Barnaby heard his phone ring. Groaning in annoyance he picked it up, ready to yell at his partner for bothering him again. When he looked at the name displayed on the screen, he frowned instead. It wasn’t Kotetsu, but rather Fire Emblem deciding to contact him.

“Hello?” he answered the call.

“Morning, Handsome. I hope I’m not bothering you,” Fire Emblem greeted.

“Depending on how you look at it,” Barnaby chuckled bitterly.

“Well, then I will skip the pleasantries and go to the matter of business. I have something to talk about.”

That made Barnaby a little confused. Through the haze that was blanketing his mind he was trying to think what could Emblem possibly want to talk about. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t figure it out.

“I’m actually really close to your room right now, is it going to be trouble to talk face to face?” Fire Emblem asked meanwhile.

Barnaby rubbed his forehead, wiping the sweat from under the bangs of his hair. He wondered about Emblem’s question, tried to imagine them standing in front of him. He wasn’t sure if he was surprised by it, or it was something to be expected, but there was no reaction.

“Sure,” he replied, getting up from the cot and moving to the spot at the window that in the last day and a half had almost became more familiar to him that the chair in the living room of his apartment — the thought about it wasn’t cheering.

Fire Emblem walked to the front of the ward’s window, the quickness of their appearance making Barnaby realize they’d been waiting somewhere right next to his room. “Oh dear, you look horrible,” they sighed taking a seat on a folded chair in front of him.

“In comparison with how I feel, it’s a compliment,” Barnaby snorted shaking his head. He placed his elbow on the tiny space of the windowsill, hiding his face in his palms.

“Well, in this case I have some long-awaited good news,” Fire Emblem announced, and Barnaby’s interest picked up. “The doctors spoke to Tiger and, as he has some difficulties communicating with you at the moment and, for some reason, is under the impression you would rather hear it from a friendly face than a doctor...” they paused then, frowning. “You know, speaking that all out loud just made me realize it makes no sense.”

For the first time this morning Barnaby felt like snickering. “That’s Kotetsu for you.”

“But what can you do,” Emblem agreed. “Anyway, what I came to tell you first of all, is that that other teenager with the same symptoms, what was his name, Alex? He's on the way to a complete recovery.”

Raising his head, Barnaby looked at the other hero in surprise, feeling relieved and hopeful at the same time. “Did the doctors figured out a treatment.”

His question made Emblem look away, their expression uncomfortable. As there wasn't many things that could cause such a reaction in them, Barnaby became a little worried.

“Yes and no. You see, most of the doctors are under the impression one of the medications they had given to the poor boy last night managed to trigger the recovery.”

“I assume it’s not what Saito thinks,” Barnaby guessed, starting to slowly realize where this conversation was going to, not liking this direction even the slightest.

“As Saito probably mentioned to you, this is a purely mental condition. The medications could have eased the symptoms, but it's doubtful it could’ve done something to heal Alex completely. A desire that's been there even before being affected by the NEXT powers, which he managed to satisfy now, on the other hand...” they trailed off.

It made sense to assume Alex sleeping with his girlfriend was what helped him in the end, but there was something that wasn’t fitting into this story. “But most of other victims were able to find someone in the end, it didn’t help them.”

Fire Emblem shrugged. “Depends how you interpret it,” they sighed. “I sincerely doubt molesting strangers on the street can count.”

“A willing target then,” Barnaby nodded.

Fire Emblem looked at him a little sadly. “This is the working theory."

Frowning, Barnaby rubbed his temples. It was a lot of information to process. Even if most of it could’ve been considered as good news, as it had a potential of saving him, the only thing it managed to do, was making him nervous.

A thought came to his mind. “Don’t tell me you suggest I could do it with you,” he gulped looking at Fire Emblem terrified, almost ready to take a step backwards, away from the glass. Then he decided it might’ve sounded a little too rude, especially considering it was for his sake in the end. “I’m sorry, it's not like I consider you an unattractive person or anything, it’s just...”

“Oh no, not even in your dreams I would propose something like that,” Fire Emblem waved their hand in dismissal. “Although,” they added more cheerfully rubbing their chin, “if it’s only in your dreams, I don’t mind.”

Their expression sobered then, intonation becoming more serious. “But really, I could find someone willing, no questions asked. And as I’m aware you right now only react on people to whom you would otherwise be attracted, just tell me what would be your type to make it easier.”

No matter how uncomfortable it was making Barnaby, it was a tempting offer. Choosing between dying in horrible pain and having casual sex with someone to whom he most likely would never have to talk afterwards should’ve been easy. He needed to answer positively because, frankly, he didn’t want to die, yet when he was thinking about anyone but Kotetsu, his stomach felt like twisting and turning inside out.

Apparently some of his mental struggles were shown on his face, because Fire Emblem’s expression turned into a mix of amusement and pity. They leaned closer to the glass, speaking almost into the holes drilled in it. “Or is that your type consists only of one middle aged man with a lame beard and fashion senses from the last century?”

The question made Barnaby so embarrassed he wanted to turn around and run. There wasn’t even a point in denying it, because him reacting to his partner in such manner hadn’t been a secret from the very beginning. “I... I don’t know, I just don’t,” he confessed finally, trying hard not to raise his voice.

“It both eases and complicates things,” Fire Emblem said. “I’m sure if you explain it to him, he would agree.”

This time Barnaby actually laughed, refusing to even consider what Emblem was proposing. “And then what? I’ll have to work with him afterwards. Not only that, it would ruin our friendship.”

Fire Emblem didn’t reply, at least not immediately. They watched Barnaby for a while, as if studying him, their fingers playing with white fur of their jacket. “And what if he's the only one who can help you?" they asked after a few long moments.

Barnaby gave Emblem a blank stare, but his heart picked up its pace for some reason. "What is that suppose to mean?"

"Well," they shrugged leaning backwards into the chair, their head turning slightly to look somewhere into the distance. “There was another difference between Alex and the rest of the victims. While everyone else went to seek gratification with strangers, he did it with someone... he had a deep emotional connection with, let’s phrase it this way.”

Not for the first time, Barnaby didn’t know how to react. There was so much sense in Fire Emblem’s words, so much useful insight, yet every part of him wanted to deny it. “I can’t do it,” he shook his head. “I just can't compromise our relationship like this.”

This time Fire Emblem’s intonation became harsher. Barnaby didn't doubt it would've sounded angry if Emblem was speaking any louder. “And what would you do instead, die? Have you ever thought what would it do to him? He’d lost someone important before and, perhaps, his affection for you is not romantic in nature, anyone can see how much he cares.” They took a deep breath, calming themselves down. “It's likely one day both of you can get over it, and even if it will never happen, at least you will be alive and well, and he will continue on living knowing it.”

Barnaby opened his mouth, but no sound escaped him. Kotetsu’s pained expression appeared in his mind, the way he’d kept looking at Barnaby, how desperately he’d been refusing to leave his side. It made his body weaker all of the sudden, and he might've collapsed to his knees if he wasn't sitting on a chair.

Kotetsu cared about him. Perhaps, not in the same way he cared about Kotetsu. Perhaps, the man would never think of him as something more than a little brother or an overgrown son, but if Barnaby died... it would be more than enough for something in him to be lost too.

“You know,” Fire Emblem continued, looking distantly at their own hand, finding something fascinating on their nails. “I made a promise to myself never to interfere with these sorts of things, but this clearly went out of hand. Of course, give me a word I’ll start looking for someone suitable, but let me ask you something, have you ever considered you might have a chance with him?”

Barnaby snorted hearing it. “He’d never want it.”

Emblem shrugged. “You're a quick one to come to all of the answers on your own, aren't you?”

Barnaby was starting to feel his blood boiling, wanting to retort with something offensive. He stopped himself the last moment, knowing Emblem was here for his sake. “Let’s try finding someone else,” he proposed instead trying to guide the conversation away from this topic. “It might still work, and I won’t need to bother Kotetsu.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then...” Barnaby gulped. “Then, I guess, I won't have a choice.”

Emblem watched him for another several moments. “Very well then. I guess I’ll have to make a few calls.” They almost moved to stand up from the chair but turned back again. “One last thing. Tiger mentioned it to me, but knowing him I must not rely on his words completely. Should it be a man or a woman?”

“It... doesn’t matter,” Barnaby replied. He didn’t even think about, couldn’t see a point in it. He knew it was the truth too — not because he managed to figure himself out in this short period of time, but because none of them were going to be Kotetsu, so he simply didn’t care.

Emblem nodded. “Don’t worry, one way or another, we aren’t letting you die,” they encouraged standing up and making a step away from the window.

“Emblem,” Barnaby called out, then quickly corrected himself, because right now it wasn’t the right situation be be calling each-other by hero names, “Nathan... Thank you.”

That earned him a warm smile from his friend. “Don’t mention it.”

As Fire Emblem was leaving, Barnaby continued to watch their back until he realized they went to talk to Kotetsu. With his mood dropping even lower, he eased back into the chair hiding his face into the palms of his hands.

He wasn't sure how long he'd spent sitting like that, trying to empty his head from too many thoughts, only with no result. He still believed he was doing the right thing, but for whom it was right, he wasn't sure. Obviously not for himself but, taking everything into account, it didn't matter.

He needed to cool down, if not to help himself think, then at least to soothe his budding headache. Standing up, he went to the lavatory again, heading right towards the sink and turning the blue handle of the faucet to the maximum. He wished the sink was big enough to stick his head under the spray completely, but there was barely enough space for his hands. The water itself was lukewarm, but as he was gathering the liquid in his cupped palms, bringing it to his almost burning face, he understood it was better than nothing.

The face that greeted him in the mirror didn't even look like him now, and if he was going to appear in public, he doubted anyone would be able to recognize him. Even if his cheeks were burning, it didn't look like a healthy blush, more like something one might look after drinking too much. The dark circles under the eyes didn't have any plans of going away and, on top of that, he saw several reddening acne spots on his forehead and cheeks and was ready to bang his head against the wall.

He felt horrible, but not only in physical aspect, in mental too. He was trying to think about the person Fire Emblem was going to find for him. It was easy to imagine this person to be a man, but Emblem knew a lot of people, so it was impossible to tell for sure. Still, no matter who it was going to be, he couldn’t stop feeling... wrong. No matter how good they were going to look, one thought about someone he didn’t even know touching him, kissing him was making him queasy.

 _“...this kind of thing should only be done with someone you love, you know,”_ Kotetsu’s words echoed in his head. Crude and not thought-through words, unfair words. Still, no matter how Kotetsu phrased it, Barnaby knew him well enough to see what he meant. This kind of thing should've only be done with someone you decided to do do it. And it was perfectly fine to decide to do it with someone you loved.

Yet, it wasn't a one way decision, both parties had a say in it, and Barnaby wondered if by making a choice of keeping quiet, he was also taking this choice away from his partner.

Fire emblem was right, but not because they proposed Barnaby had a chance with Kotetsu, but because after everything Kotetsu had been put through for his sake, he at least deserved to know what Barnaby really wanted.

Moreover, if their current plan wasn’t going to work, Kotetsu was going to end up saving him anyway, was going to be forced into doing it. If Barnaby asked first, on the other hand, there was a chance for his partner to agree on his own accord.

It needed to be fair, however, Barnaby wasn't going to even mention there was a possibility of it failing with anyone else, he wasn't going to place Kotetsu before an ultimatum. Whatever decision Kotetsu was going to make should be his own.

Pulling on every reserve left in him, gathering the last of his willpower, Barnaby stepped away from the sink and moved towards the door leading out of his ward.

Besides his partner, the corridor was empty, but it wasn't surprising. There weren't many dangerous patients here requiring immediate attention and, since he and Alex had been brought to the wing, all of the medical staff tried to avoid this part of the hospital unless it was absolutely necessary.

Kotetsu sat on a bench on the far side of the corridor, his attention on the phone in his hands. The moment he noticed he was no longer alone, he visibly flinched.

Barnaby tried to look nowhere close to Kotetsu, yet only a glance in his direction was enough to see his worried expression — whether he was worried for Barnaby or himself was difficult to judge.

"Bunny, did something happen? Are you alright?" he asked standing up.

"No and no," Barnaby shook his head continuing to move forward, averting his eyes completely.

It was unbearable to be so close to him, Barnaby's skin was almost burning, his legs too weak to carry him without wobbling. It was taking him every last bit of concentration not to lose control and do something entirely different from what he came here for.

"Should I call a doctor?" Kotetsu inquired and made a step backwards, away from his partner, which meant at least a part of the worry Barnaby had seen in him earlier was for himself.

"No," Barnaby replied, his mouth going dry.

He was nervous, more so than he'd ever remembered being. He was aware asking something so important required slow calculation and careful choice of words. He needed to start the discussion with something small and then ease the request into it.

Kotetsu was silent, waiting for him to start talking, and Barnaby could imagine his expression was cautious, but he couldn't tell for sure, his own eyes glued to the floor beneath his feet.

"I..." he began and clenched his fists. It didn't feel like he could keep up a small talk, he had too little time before his self control was going to snap completely, he could feel it. It was a now or never situation, and Barnaby didn't want to waste his only chance. "I want to do it with you," he said as clearly as he could manage.

The time seemed to stop, everything around Barnaby quieting down. A single nervous chuckle from Kotetsu broke the silence, before any sound from him seized once again.

The man was stepping from one foot to another, and Barnaby could see it because it was the only part of Kotetsu he could see. It felt like an eternity had passed before he started to speak again. "I don't really get it, and I'm honestly honored," he sighed, "but you are aware I'm not into men."

"I figured," Barnaby said immediately, expecting this reaction. "Still, I wanted you to know that I would rather do it with you than... rather than _anyone_ else," he said accenting the word 'anyone' to better demonstrate his point. "I want you."

"Bunny..." Kotetsu continued. "Even if we do it, purely hypo... hipo... uh, assuming we would do it, you will just regret it."

“No,” Barnaby breathed out. “I would more likely regret doing it with someone I don’t know, rather than with someone I trust.”

Another awkward pause followed and Barnaby could feel it with his skin, the man was watching him closely. He wished he could look up and see Kotetsu’s expression, but he concentrated on watching the tips of Kotetsu’s shoes instead, noticing a few scratches on the otherwise polished black and white surface.

“Shit,” Barnaby heard Kotetsu mutter and saw him turning around. Just for a second, he allowed himself glance at his partner, seeing him looking distantly at a wall, rubbing his neck, his face turning a shade redder. “I... well... I think I need some fresh air,” he managed in the end, and just like that, without waiting for any reply from Barnaby, he turned around completely, starting to hastily walk away.

When the the double doors leading out of the hospital wing closed, hiding even a trace of Kotetsu ever being there, Barnaby felt as if the floor crumbled under his feet, and he was falling into the darkest abyss with no chance of ever climbing out.

***

It was by far the longest day in Barnaby's life. The doctors were extremely displeased by the turn of events and continued to doubt the heroes' plan, considering it a bad idea. Namila’s mother seemed the most upset about the entire ordeal. Even if she'd never actually said it out loud, Barnaby could feel the tension in the air, see the displeasure in her expression. He could imagine the reason behind it and only hoped Namila’s family was going to be able to work though this situation.

Not to take any chances, the doctors still agreed to arrange their little meeting and even moved Barnaby into another room. Besides the clean sets of sheets on the cot, it wasn't any different from the ward he'd been occupying for the last day and a half, but it was situated on the furthest end of the wing and had several empty rooms surrounding it, providing as much privacy as it was possible in the situation.

The medical staff did not want to back off from the medications either, in case it was indeed what saved Alex, so closer to the middle of the afternoon, Barnaby was given an array of different drugs. Thankfully, they did manage to ease the pain in his body, but they also made him befuddled, and even sicker than he'd already been.

Kotetsu had disappeared from the hospital completely. On one hand, Barnaby was glad about it, because being unable to constantly catch the sight of the other man in the periphery of his vision, helped him to regain a little better grip with reality. On another hand, it hurt immensely to know Barnaby had pushed him away with his confession, perhaps, with no possibility of salvaging their relationship to the level it had previously been at.

His condition became worse towards the evening. It was already starting to darken outside, but it were hours before whoever Fire Emblem was able to find was going to arrive, the time dragging slowly. Barnaby wished he could pace to occupy himself at least with something, but he had difficulties standing upright for too long.

Instead, he was splayed on his stomach on the cot, inhaling the smell of the more or less fresh bed sheets in desperate heavy pants. His hands were traveling down his own navel, his hips raised above the surface of the mattress to free some space. He wanted to touch himself, wanted to find release from the completely consuming him desire for at least a few moments. It hurt despite the heavy amount of painkillers, and even letting his imagination thrive, allowing himself to think about Kotetsu, this time wasn't easing that pain.

He wanted to cry again, but he couldn't find any strength in him to do it even that, his eyes dry and irritated. His mouth was dry too, but somehow he managed to gather just enough saliva to slick two of his fingers, before carefully moving his hand behind himself and under the waistband of his already pulled down pants.

It felt like he was burning there too, and it was as painful as touching any other part of his body, but he couldn't force himself to stop either. Clenching his teeth into the pillowcase under his head, he continued to push the fingers into his body.

Barnaby didn't even hear the door into the ward opening, but he noticed the change in the illumination in the room as more light sipped through the doorframe, a quiet clearing of a throat following suite. When he turned his head just enough to to see who it was, he saw Kotetsu standing in the middle of the ward, looking anywhere but Barnaby, his expression confound, cheeks flushed.

Something was distantly telling Barnaby he was supposed to be if not completely terrified, but at least a little embarrassed, but those emotions were not there. He did stop what he was doing but only to roll over and swing his legs off the cot, his eyes settling on the other man and not leaving his frame, his heart pumping so hard in his chest it was echoing in his head.

Under his stare, Kotetsu looked like a spooked animal, as if ready to flatten himself against a nearest wall and coward. A proud tiger cornered by a little bunny. A sort of unexplainable satisfaction settled in Barnaby as he watched him. “If you aren’t getting out of here, I...” he warned taking a step forward, knowing he didn’t need to finish for Kotetsu to understand what he meant.

His words came out strange, however, way too soft, almost a purr and completely unconvincing. He sounded exactly as if he didn’t want for the other man to leave and was actively trying to project it into his voice. In fact, he wasn’t sure Kotetsu had time to get out at this point. Even if he was going to run now, Barnaby wouldn’t let him, would chase and catch him, even if he had to use his powers to accomplish it.

Another step and Barnaby wasn’t sure everything happening was real, because Kotetsu didn’t leave. He stood there completely still, looking the younger man in the eyes.

It was a point of no return and, stopping thinking altogether, Barnaby closed the distance between them, almost slamming Kotetsu into the wall, pressing his entire body against him. He felt the other man tremble, a strange strained noise escaping him but instead of trying to push Barnaby away he did unthinkable — raising his arms he embraced Barnaby tight.

“It’s ok,” Kotetsu whispered into his ear, patting him on the back, “it’s ok.”

Barnaby was lost, all of his senses colliding to a single point, to the man before him, the sturdiness of his body, his warmth. He wanted to do everything right now, but he couldn’t decide what wanted to do the most. That was why he simply allowed his body to take complete control, grinding against Kotetsu. Pressing his nose into the crook of the other man’s neck, Barnaby was inhaling the scent of his cologne and soap mixed with just a little bit of something earthy and soft, heady.

He felt Kotetsu shift a little, his leg moving between Barnaby’s two, providing more friction, while his hands descended on Barnaby’s hips guiding his movements. It pushed him to the end, so soon Barnaby would’ve probably been embarrassed had he any sense left in him. He mouthed on the neck that was right in front of him, his body shuddering in a long-awaited release.

Afterwards, Barnaby was ready to collapse, feeling completely boneless. He would’ve probably ended up on the floor in a heap, if not for Kotetsu who was holding him tight. He relaxed against his partner, taking deep, heavy breaths, enjoying the blissful sensation of being so close to the other man.

Then it started to come down to him. He tensed realizing what happened and almost jumped away from Kotetsu. “I’m, I’m sorry,” he started apologize feeling completely mortified.

He dared to look at Kotetsu whose own breathing was uneven, face a shade of red darker than the armguards on Barnaby’s hero suite. What made it even worse, now Barnaby could also feel his pants being partially down, which meant that... he glanced down Kotetsu’s slacks seeing he managed to mess them up and was ready to faint in embarrassment.

Most likely noticing the direction of Barnaby’s eyes, Kotetsu looked down too. “Hey, it’s fine, really,” he chuckled awkwardly. Pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket, he did a quick job of cleaning himself. “Say, is it too wistful for me to think it was enough?” he asked looking around. Finding a trash can in the corner of the room, he threw the handkerchief away.

Barnaby wasn’t daring to even move. He could feel desire budding in him again, not as strongly as before, but it was enough to shake his head as an answer.

“Alright,” Kotetsu said. He bit his lower lip and, as if he’d been taking speaking lessons from Sky High, he repeated himself again. “Alright. But, umm... can you hold on for like twenty minutes? Cause I ain’t doing it here,” he gestured in the general direction of the ward.

Barnaby had no idea how long he could hold, but he nodded. “I can do it,” he promised, knowing at least he was going to put his best effort into keeping his word.

“Good,” Kotetsu agreed. “Let’s break you out of here then.”


	6. Chapter 6

Sometimes Barnaby wondered why so many important conversations with Kotetsu were happening in a car. Perhaps, riding with his partner to and from work was creating some sort of a special atmosphere, a predisposition for speaking one's mind more openly. Or maybe being left alone, with no-one else requiring their attention, played a more important role.

Yet, neither seemed to be in the mood to speak now, the tension in the air so thick, Barnaby could practically swim in it — or drown, considering it reminded him more of mud rather than water.

After what happened in the hospital, he was able to get a better grip on his reactions. His imagination was still providing him with rather vivid images of the continuation of the night, making him wish for nothing else but getting out of the stiffy vehicle, but at least he was certain he could control himself for the duration of the ride.

To distract himself further, he took another bite of his hot dog, which was courteously provided to him earlier by Kotetsu. It was also very obvious the hot dog was ordered specifically for him. There was no mayonaise on it and no pickles, and Barnaby should've been glad he didn't need to pluck the things out while listening to Kotetsu complaining about his diet, but it only made him dejected. It was as if by this simple gesture Kotetsu placed even more distance between them.

It was unreasonable to get upset over a hot dog, but in the past several days Barnaby had been as far from being reasonable as it was only possible. He needed to be thankful for the food instead, because he'd been starving for hours, unable to force himself to eat anything at the hospital and not because of the quality of the food there, but because prior to reaching Kotetsu's car he had absolutely no appetite.

Casually glancing out of the window, Barnaby continued to chew his meal. As he watched the roads Kotetsu was taking, he realized he other man was driving them towards the Gold Stage. It was difficult to tell why Kotetsu decided to go there. The most probable explanation was the distance, Barnaby's apartment situated closer to the hospital than Kotetsu's one. Yet, something was telling him Kotetsu would never want to do what they were about to do at his place. If it was true, Barnaby didn't think he could blame him.

That last thought almost made him laugh, because apparently something as significant as Kotetsu not taking them into his territory was understandable, but him not ordering stupid pickles in Barnaby's hot dog was an outrage.

The time of the day was after rush hours, and the road was clear, so less than twenty minutes after leaving the hospital they arrived to a very familiar apartment complex. As the car passed the front of the building, Barnaby found himself looking around, assessing their surroundings. It was barely past six in the evening, but the city was submerged under the veil of twilight, the globe on a golden statue of Atlas already brightly lit, alongside the rows of lights around it.

There were people walking down the street, so parking on the outer lot was out of question, as Barnaby really didn't want to pass any of his neighbors right now, while looking as disheveled as he did. On top of that, he was still wearing the hospital gallon because, apparently, when Kotetsu had said he was breaking him out, he'd really meant it. It'd been almost an epic escape with sneaking out into the inner yard and climbing over a wall, and Barnaby was absolutely sure they were going to get into so much trouble for it, that he didn’t even wish to contemplate it.

Kotetsu entered the inner garage under the building, parking on the first available spot and killed the engines. He sat behind the wheel for a while, not moving, then took a deep breath, reaching for the section between two front seats and extracting a small white bag. “Let’s go,” he said in a shaky voice and opened the door.

The trip across the garage, was a hustle from one supporting column to another, like they were some sort of robbers. At least it was Barnaby who was trying to be discreet, because Kotetsu walked casually. If not for his stiff posture and paler than usual complexion, it almost seemed as if nothing out of ordinary was happening.

The ride on the elevator was the worst part, as it placed Barnaby in a very small quarters with his partner, and he almost lost it there, barely holding himself from pinning Kotetsu against the wall again. He wasn’t sure how he managed to control the urge, but several longest moments later, the elevator stopped on the needed floor, the door opening with a chim.

Barnaby’s apartment was situated almost on the other end of the corridor, but once again the luck was on their side, because they managed to reach it without passing a single person. With shaking hand he entered the combination on the padlock and allowed the scanner to read the fingerprint of his thumb.

And then all hell broke loose, because finding himself alone with Kotetsu without worrying about people seeing them, Barnaby could control himself no longer. It was as if a switch snapped in his brain, the portion of it responsible for reasoning shutting down completely. Grabbing Kotetsu by the lapels of his shirt, he dragged him further into the apartment, allowing the automatic door to slide and lock itself behind them.

“Whoa-whoa, slow down a little,” Kotetsu pleaded, but his request fell on the deaf ear.

Barnaby wasn’t sure how, he couldn’t recollect their way into the bedroom, but next moment he found himself pushing Kotetsu onto the bed, climbing to straddle him. “Bunny?” he heard Kotetsu calling him, but he paid no attention.

Mouthing on the neck before him, he was trying to unbutton Kotetsu’s shirt. It wasn’t working well, so he gave up and went for the belt buckle of Kotetsu’s pants instead, unfastening it as fast as he could, tugging the pants down, not even bothering with the fly.

Still, it felt as if the things were moving way too slow, is if he couldn’t bear another second without getting what he wanted. Something was telling him, that simply grinding against his partner wasn’t going to be enough this time, so he reached behind Kotetsu, sliding his hand down the small the other man's back and under the waistband of his underwear.

“Bunny!” he was warned, but his finger continued to move lower, into the hollow between Kotetsu’s buttocks, feeling the skin there a little dump. Another inch and it managed to locate its target, starting to press into the other man’s body. “Barnaby!”

Hearing his name made Barnaby freeze. It was so unusual, he felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was poured over him, bringing him back to his senses. Instantly he withdrew his hands, fumbling a little as it stuck under the rubber band of Kotetsu’s boxers. “I’m so sorry!” he gasped moving away, shocked by his own actions.

Kotetsu himself didn't look any better, laying on his back completely rumpled. His slacks were partially down, his shirt halfway undone, but not because Barnaby had managed to unhook the buttons from their holes, but because they were missing, flown into different directions probably to be never found again.

Kotetsu’s gaze was aimed at the corner of the room, his fist covering his mouth, his face flushed red. “I...” he started, then paused, as if trying to collect himself. “Not that I expected it to be... any different, but... you can’t just... stick anything there like that,” he said in a broken set of sentences, continuing to avert his eyes.

Licking his dry lips, Barnaby nodded. “I might not have done this before,” he said and was unable to recognize his own voice, “but I have a general idea about how it works.”

A moment passed in silence and Kotetsu started to get up. Barnaby almost expected him to leave, but the man only sat on the bed, his hands slowly moving to finish unbuttoning his shirt. “Gonna be more comfortable if you lose some of it too,” he proposed gesturing on Barnaby’s clothes.

“Yeah,” Barnaby agreed and started to pull the blue hospital tunic off, unceremoniously throwing it away, onto the floor. Without any regard for modestly, because at this point he doubted it was really relevant, he reached of the pants next, quickly pulling them down together with his underwear. He was glad his boots were not a part of the hospital get up, and the slippers that he had on were nowhere to be seen. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember where he’d left them, only that he’d still had them on in Kotetsu’s car.

As he was done undressing, he settled at the foot of the bed. He didn’t dare to look at Kotetsu directly, but on the corner of his eyes, he could still see him discarding piece after piece of clothing, much slower that Barnaby managed to do it.

“Glasses too,” he heard Kotetsu speak, his voice followed by a rustle of a plastic bag. “They are going to be in the way.”

Barnaby frowned. “I don’t wear it as a fashion statement, at least not only. I do actually have a myopia.”

“I don’t think you are going to be staring into the distance much," Kotetsu chuckled.

Deciding not to argue with the other man, Barnaby took his glasses off, the objects further away from him becoming blurrier. Carefully leaning over the edge of the bed, he placed them on the floor under it, deep enough not to accidently step on them. “Hm, how do you even know what this word mean?” he asked, because Kotetsu was not a person who easily understood complicated words or medical terms. Truthfully, Barnaby wasn’t even sure why he continued to use them around Kotetsu, knowing all too well he would have to explain their meaning afterwards.

Kotetsu didn’t answer, and Barnaby dared to glance at him. Instantly he regretted it, because even without glasses he was able to see the other man completely naked, staring thoughtfully on the back of a small tube of what Barnaby realized was lubricant.

Biting his lower lip, Barnaby turned away, his every muscle becoming so hot and rigid, that he needed to clench into the bedsheets to steady himself. “Please hurry, I’m at my limit,” he warned fighting the shudders that was running down his back.

“Yeah, yeah, one second,” Kotetsu responded and threw the small bag into his direction. “This is already way to awkward for me, so please tell me you can figure how to put one on.”

Looking over the bag, Barnaby saw a pharmacy logo on the opaque, white plastic. Reaching inside, he found exactly what he expected, extracting a pack of condoms from the bag. “Please, don’t push your virgin stereotypes on me,” he muttered tearing the factory seal and opening the pack, noting the condoms to be specialized. It almost chagrined him — not for himself, but for Kotetsu, who was the one having to go buy them. Once again he mentally thanked his partner for putting up with everything Barnaby had made him go through.

As he was finishing rolling it down his length, Barnaby heard a groan. It sounded almost painful and, without thinking, he looked up. That was the last thing he managed to do with a more or less clear mind, because he saw Kotetsu sitting on his knees, a strained kind of frown on his face. One of his hands was reaching behind him and, while Barnaby couldn’t see what he was doing, as it was Kotetsu's side turned to him, he could clearly imagine it.

The next moment Barnaby was by his side, pushing Kotetsu into the mattress again, but onto his stomach this time. He wanted to tell he was sorry, but he found himself unable to articulate it properly.

Kotetsu yelped at the assault, his body becoming completely rigid. “Hey, wait, not yet! I only managed with two fingers, I... Uwagh!” he all but squealed as Barnaby positioned himself and started to push in, biting Kotetsu on the shoulder at the same time.

He was trying to go as slow as it was possible, but Kotetsu was tensing up even further, making it difficult, frustrating. What was even worse, the sensation of burying himself into his partner's body was so incredible, he wanted to slam in completely, not even caring about hurting him.

Both of Kotetsu’s hands reached behind him, landing on Barnaby’s hips, as if to shove him away. Yet, he didn’t push, only provided enough resistance to slow Barnaby’s forward movement. “Ok, ok, just a little more careful,” he encouraged, and his body started to relax.

And then, before he was in completely, Barnaby felt his stomach twist pleasantly. He didn’t even realize what was happening at first, but when he did, it was too late to even attempt holding it. With a low moan muffled by the skin of Kotetsu’s shoulder, Barnaby was coming, shuddering against his partner.

Everything quieted down, and for some time neither of them moved, but Barnaby didn’t have time to calm down, enjoy the blissfulness of the moment. Way too soon, he heard a confused erm from Kotetsu, the reality of the situation hitting him.

“I’m sorry!” he gasped drawing back from the other man, staring at him in shock, trying to assess the damage. He saw Kotetsu moving one of his hands to cover own mouth, the man’s face and neck still red. There was a rather noticeable bite mark on his shoulder, and Barnaby couldn’t believe he was the one who left it there. “Did I hurt you?” he asked anxiously.

He didn’t think he could forgive himself he he did. Their relationship had already been sabotaged enough to possibly not ever being able to salvage it, and causing pain to his partner was on the list of things he didn’t wish to add to it.

Kotetsu made a small sound, which Barnaby didn't recognize, and for a moment he thought he made the other man cry. The sound repeated itself, a little louder, Kotetsu’s body shaking slightly. Finally, his head turned just enough for him to give Barnaby a side glance, his hand moving out of the way, revealing a smirk on his lips, a short laughter escaping him. “'Don’t push your virgin stereotypes on me',” he snorted, trying to imitate Barnaby’s voice.

Unable to decide whether he was supposed to feel annoyed or relieved Kotetsu wasn't in a bad shape after all, Barnaby stared at the other man. “Seriously?” he retorted blankly, “I could've injured you, and mocking me is the first thing you do?”

"Well, better this than being upset, I guess," he shrugged. Then he sighed, turning around to face him, the intonation of his voice turning more serious. “It did feel a bit painful at the beginning, but it was mostly just weird, so don’t worry about it, really.”

Barnaby didn’t feel convinced, but he couldn’t take his actions back either, so he was going to trust Kotetsu was telling the truth. “I’ll make it up to you,” he told his partner, moving away enough to see him fully.

Even being at a loss due to the lack of experience, Barnaby was determined. He wanted to do something for the other man, because returning a favor of this nature seemed appropriate. “Umm,” he blinked. For the first time since ever, he dared to look directly below Kotetsu’s waist, but instead of seeing what he really wished to see, he noticing the other man completely flaccid.

He could imagine their previous activity wasn’t to Kotetsu’s liking, neither Barnaby’s obviously masculine body was something he would consider appealing, but seeing him so completely uninvolved was surprisingly hurtful. 

Not completely understanding what he was suppose to do, but neither thinking about it, Barnaby leant forward, intending to take Kotetsu into his mouth, because more than anything he wanted the other man to enjoy it too.

Kotetsu's hand landing on his forehead stopped him midway. “Don’t,” he said simply, sounding completely serious.

If the knowledge of Kotetsu not wanting him was upsetting, the realization Kotetsu didn’t even want to want him was more painful. “Am I disgusting you that much?” he asked trying to ignore the lump forming in his throat.

“What?” Kotetsu surprised, his eyes going wider. “Of course not! Well, I mean, it is a bizarre idea about us doing this, and I admit, I’m unsure if I can respond to another man touching me, but... the main reason... ugh, how can I put it...” he groaned, getting up to sit on the bed. “I would just feel wrong enjoying it with anyone under some weird influence. Even if I’ve never thought about doing it with you, while you’re in this condition, I still feel like I’m taking advantage."

Barnaby looked at him with his mouth agape. The thought about Kotetsu deciding he’d asked him only because of his current state had never crossed his mind, but when he thought about it now, it made sense. “And how do you think I suppose to feel?” he asked, his intonation raising. “I’m the one who messed up because I was to embarrassed to admit I was a virgin, and now you just offering yourself like someone I can use for my own need.” His hands clenched to the bed sheets again, until he saw his knuckles turning white, his vision blurring even further from tears. "And you want to know the truth? I’ve wanted you way before getting into this whole mess.” 

A long pause followed, Kotetsu watching him closely, his expression difficult to read. Slowly it started to change, his eyebrows rising in surprise, his mouth opening. "Oh..." he managed barely audible.

“But it’s alright. If even the idea of sleeping with me disgusts you, I will understand,”  Barnaby finished with a hickup, his tears starting to flow out of his eyes uncontrollably.

He felt like a complete idiot because of this another outburst, but he could do nothing about it. Perhaps, he could blame the hormones messing up with his emotions, or maybe it was him being nothing more but a big crybaby, he didn’t know.

Kotetsu sighed finally, his voice turning soft. “I can’t even start to understand what you see in me, but I’m sorry, I didn’t think about it from your perspective, and I didn’t want to upset you so much.”

Barnaby shook his head. “It’s fine. At least now I know for sure where each of us stands,” he paused, trying to calm himself down, wiping the tears from his face. “I’m not sure how many more times I will need it, but I will try to be as quick and careful as—”

Kotetsu’s palm landed on his cheek, interrupting him. “Hey,” the man chuckled very quietly and it was like nothing Barnaby had ever heard from him, so soft and...  _ private,  _ and Barnaby was sure only a chosen few had ever heard it before. “I’m not promising anything, but if this is the case, let’s... let’s try to do this properly,” he said and leaned in, his lips landing on Barnaby’s.

Barnaby’s eyes flew open, it was so unexpected. Exhaling slowly through his nose, he began moving his lips against Kotetsu’s. It was sloppy and the angle was a little awkward, both of them needing to reach out over their legs and a little bit of bed space separating them, but it was a kiss. Not only that, it was their very first kiss, which was a little strange considering they’d already went all the way this evening. Still, it didn’t make it any less enjoyable.

While Barnaby was unsure what to do with himself, allowing his instincts to take over, doing what felt good, Kotetsu had a little different idea. Taking the initiative over the kiss completely, he slowly moved closer, both of his hands coming to cup Barnaby’s head, tilting it just slightly, but somehow it opened an absolutely new array of movement opportunities. Kotetsu didn’t stop there, his tongue swiping over the younger man’s lower lips before sliding into his mouth, and Barnaby was so lost in the sensation that he was almost ready to swoon.

When Kotetsu moved away, there was a wide grin on his face. “So, how was that?”

“Pfft,” Barnaby huffed, yet he was not even a single bit frustrated. “Are you looking for praise again?”

“What, I think I’m a good kisser,” Kotetsu chuckled wiggling his eyebrow.

“And I think, I can most definitely outmatch you with some more practice,” Barnaby smirked leaning in again, kissing Kotetsu back, taking the full control over the action. Perhaps, it wasn’t as skillful as when Kotetsu was in lead, but it was the effort that counted.

Barnaby’s body was getting hotter again, telling him he was ready for more. Cautiously, he started to push Kotetsu onto his back, relieved immediately he felt no resistance from the other man.

“Kotetsu, I want to make you feel good, where do you like to be touched?” he asked without a second though, hovering over him, his desire turning too great to be concerned about how he sounded.

Kotetsu laughed, rolling his eyes, but the grin on his face didn’t falter. “Well, that’s the whole idea,” he said poking Barnaby into forehead with his index finger. “Figure it out.”

“Then I’ll have to be quick, because I’m almost ready to lose control again,” Barnaby whispered starting to place kisses on Kotetsu’s jaw. “And I really hope it’s not your beard, because that would be weird,” he added kissing the scruffy hair on Kotetsu’s chin just in case.

“You the one weird,” Kotetsu snorted, ruffling Barnaby’s hair. “And just for your information, it’s not.”

“Alright, I believe you,” Barnaby hummed, moving down to Kotetsu’s neck, his tongue swiping over the skin there, tasting a little salt. To his complete delight, this small action earned him a tiny gasp that couldn’t have been mistaken as anything but pleasurable. Delighted about his findings, he repeated the action a few more times.

Barnaby allowed himself to explore, his hands sliding down the firm planes of his partner’s chest, his stomach, enjoying the way every muscle of the other man’s body tensed under his palm. There and there, he kept finding little spots that caused more reactions than the others, each of them he paid a little extra attention.

He was unsure whether it was a side effect of the NEXT powers, or it was simply an aspect of his personality, but he felt no restrains doing it, as if even a concept of timidity was alien to him. He felt not even a trace of hesitation moving lower, leveling himself with Kotetsu’s groin, inhaling the musky aroma.

Seeing him almost completely aroused made Barnaby grin, unexplainable feeling of joy overwhelming him. He felt his mouth water and looked upwards, admiring Kotetsu's abashed expression, their eyes locking. Leaning in, he captured him between his lips, imbibing the little sounds coming from the man beneath him.

Barnaby was almost entranced by the act, the skin against his tongue feeling smooth and tasting salty-sweet. Leisurely rolling his tongue against the other man’s length, he felt Kotetsu becoming harder. Not even realizing it at first, he began moaning around him, which probably made him extremely indecent, but he couldn’t care less.

Kotetsu’s expression changed too. While he still seemed a little apprehensive, there was a note of amazement in his eyes, his breathing becoming uneven and deep.

Barnaby wanted to keep pleasuring the other man until he could see him completely undone, but he could feel his patience ending, the darker, primal side of him starting to take over. He was aware if he was going to wait longer, he would act on instincts alone and could hurt Kotetsu. To prevent it he forced himself to move away, reaching for the tube of lube and a pack of condoms.

“Already?” his partner chuckled, anxiety in his intonation.

“I’m sorry,” Barnaby exhaled, making a hasty job of putting on a new condom and pouring the clear liquid onto his fingers, before spreading an extensive amount of it over himself. He wasn’t sure how many times he’d already apologized, but it felt like it wasn’t enough. It probably could never be enough, all things considered.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, just do what you have to,” Kotetsu told him reassuringly.

Barnaby frowned moving forward and lifting Kotetsu by his hips, placing his lower half on his lap. “I don’t want to do it because I have to,” he confessed starting to push in. There was resistance again, but it was much less than before, his length sliding easier into Kotetsu’s body. “More than anything, I wish I could do it with you because both of us wanted it.”

“Yeah, well,” Kotetsu groaned between short pants. “Life rarely gives people what they want.”

Barnaby frowned, trying not to take the words personally. Instead, he looked Kotetsu in the eyes. “I still want you to feel good.”

Smiling at him a little sadly, Kotetsu reached hor Barnaby’s cheek again. “I will try,” he promised and Barnaby felt his body finally starting to relax, accept him. “But I must admit I’m doubtful it can be from this side of things, but I will tr...aayy.” The last of his word ended in a gasp, Kotetsu’s head falling onto the pillow with a soft thud.

“Are you alright?” Barnaby asked concerned.

Instead of an answer, Kotetsu stared at him astound. He nodded once and hurried to avert his eyes, as if in embarrassment, making Barnaby realize Kotetsu’s reaction was not on pain.

Moving again and burying himself fully, Barnaby watching Kotetsu’s back arch, heard the other man’s muffled groan followed by a curse. Then he could comprehend his surroundings no longer, whatever last coherent part of him left fading away, replaced with heat so strong Barnaby thought it could burn him alive.

Slowly but surely, Kotetsu was starting to come along, his hips beginning to move to meet Barnaby’s thrusts, and feeling it send a thrilled shiver though Barnaby’s body. What made it even better was hearing the little sounds the other man was making, the air filling with their combined pants and grunts.

Through the hazed vision, Barnaby watched him toss his head from side to side, one of his hands reaching to stroke himself. The view of it alone was almost enough to make Barnaby climax again. Somehow, either because he was getting better at this, or because it wasn't their first time this night, he managed to hold out.

Finally, Kotetsu turned to look at him, his other hand coming to land on Barnaby’s shoulder, pulling him down, completely on top of himself. Leaning in, he brought their lips together again, holding Barnaby so tight as if adding only a little bit of distance between them could cause physical pain.

Then Barnaby heard him laugh a little feverishly into the kiss. “Funniest thing, Bunny,” he chortled against his lips. “I guess I was wrong... I'm actually going to...” he started to speak a little out of breath, but didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he let out another groan, but it was longer, throatier, his entire body trembling.

Barnaby felt the muscles around him clench and it was what brought him over the edge. With a moan of his own, he was coming, Kotetsu’s name on his lips. Then, unable to keep himself upright, feeling completely exhausted, he collapsed on top of his partner.

He wasn’t sure how long they spent like this, just breathing almost in unisone. When Barnaby started coming to his senses, he felt Kotetsu’s hand wrapping around him, patting him gently on the back, and he sighed contently, embracing the other man a little tighter.

“Damn,” Kotetsu exhaled, his hand moving to Barnaby’s head, fingers intertwining with his hair, playing with the blond locks.

Barnaby allowed himself to look at Kotetsu, seeing him staring distantly at the ceiling. Not saying anything, just grinning widely, he reached for another kiss.

With physical desired sated, it turned slow, leisured, but it was a nice change of pace too. It also felt amazing to simply be this close, Kotetsu’s body warm under him. Barnaby wanted to stay in this moment forever, melt into the unhurried caresses, hold Kotetsu in his arms.

He thought that was what separated doing it with someone else rather than alone, the possibility of enjoying the aftermath together. That was also what he was going to miss the most, but he pushed this last thought away. In the end, he was going to have more than enough time to muse over it later, when everything was going to be over.

Even after the kiss, neither of them spoke for a while, and the room was quiet, not even the noises of the city from behind the window reaching Barnaby’s ears. Like this he could almost hear their hearts beating, the inhales and exhales coming from the other man tickling his cheek.

“How... how long did you want this?” Kotetsu asked suddenly, breaking the silence. Then he hurried to correct himself. “No, you don’t have to answer, it doesn’t really—”

“Around eight or nine months after we fought Jake,” Barnaby replied, the words coming easy. He wasn’t sure why he decided to tell the truth, but the tranquility of the situation was predisposing. Besides, he had nothing to lose at this point, so he wasn’t even bothering with lies. “But I fully realized it after I shot you, when I thought you were dead.”

Kotetsu’s expression didn’t change, the man continuing to look thoughtful. “I see,” he hummed. “And you kept quiet about it the whole time?”

Barnaby chuckled. “Not like you would’ve ever accepted the idea,” he said. His thoughts turned gloomy all of the sudden and he started to move away, rolling to sit next to Kotetsu.

He didn’t get far, Kotetsu grabbing him by the wrist, forcing Barnaby to look back at him, their eyes locking once again. It seemed like Kotetsu wanted to ask something else, but didn’t know how to voice his question. Finally, he opened his mouth, but a loud rumbling noise coming from somewhere between them distracted him.

“Erm,” Kotetsu huffed. “Was it me or you?”

Barnaby blinked a few times. He didn’t understand at first what the sound was, until it repeated itself, louder this time, making him motionless. It was even funny, because apparently being completely naked in front of Kotetsu, not to mention all of the other things they’ve done, was less embarrassing for him than when his stomach rumbled.

“It was me,” he frowned, moving away from his partner, rubbing his neck.

“Your fridge is empty,” Kotetsu pointed out sitting up. He winced a little, the motion notably causing him discomfort, but it disappeared from his expression fast, and Barnbay couldn’t tell if it was because the discomfort was really minor, or Kotetsu forced himself to mask it.

Barnaby also wanted to ask how did Kotetsu know about the state of his fridge, but remembered he’d sent him to retrieve some of his belongings a few days before. Of course, with Kotetsu being Kotetsu, it was only natural for him to poke his nose where he wasn’t asked to. “I can order us a pizza,” he proposed.

“Yeah, ok,” his partner grinned, and it was such a usual for him smile, that Barnaby immediately felt at ease, something in Kotetsu’s expression making him believe they could really get over it. No matter what was going to happen, there was a chance they could continue staying together. If not as lovers, then at least as friends.

“Also,” Kotetsu added reaching for his discarded shirt that was still on the bed. He picked it up, stating to wipe his stomach, the gesture that made Barnaby feel very proud of himself, being the one responsible for the mess that was now on both their abdomens. “You need a shower. You are all sticky and kinda stink,” he pointed out blankly.

Barnaby gaped, unable to believe his ears. Embarrassment returned full force as he realized he’d only took a shower this morning and had been sweating profoundly the whole day. “I...” he turned away from Kotetsu, feeling his cheeks burn. “I’ll be right back,” he announced and stood from the bed, hurriedly moving into the direction of his bathroom.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, as the last chapter was getting rather massive (again), I decided to cut it (again!)  
> But, as I'm finishing writing the epilogue, I can tell for sure that it's the last time I'm increasing the number of chapters. Yay?

Barnaby was floating, his body feeling light, his muscles refusing to listen. He wasn’t sure what was happening to him, only knew that one moment he felt more or less normal, even if tired and hungry, and the other moment everything turned blank and he almost fainted.

He remembered walking into the living room, feeling refreshed after the long-awaited shower. He’d turned his computer on to order the pizza and had been picking toppings. When he was almost ready to proseed to checkout, he remembered about adding a side of mayonnaise for Kotetsu, and then his memory became unclear, unfocused.

The next thing he saw was his own hand opening the frosted glass door to his shower stall, his gaze landing on the form of his partner, his breath taken away by the view of water running down the well-defined planes of Kotetsu's body, his darker skin glistening.

For some reason, upon noticing him, Kotetsu flinched, moving as far back as the limited space of the stall allowed. He tried to cover himself, as if there was something Barnaby hadn’t seen by this point. “Hey, what the hell?!” he demanded, looking a little panicked. “Don’t tell me you need more.”

Instead of an answer, Barnaby reached for the belt of his bathrobe, pulling it by one of the ends until the knot holding the robe came free. Tugging the white, fluffy fabric off his shoulders, allowing it slid down and fall onto the floor in a heap, Barnaby stepped inside the shower. Another step and he was pressing his body against Kotetsu's, ignoring the colder than he was used to water that sprayed all over him.

“Bunny, dammit. I thought we were done,” Kotetsu groaned, yet he didn’t push him away.

Barnaby thought it too. After their previous, more or less successful round of lovemaking he felt much better and was even able to look at Kotetsu without losing his mind. As it turned out, he was completely wrong.

Exhaling deeply, Barnaby leant closer, his tongue swiping over the shell of the other man’s ear. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered like it was the most appropriate thing to say in the situation. Reaching for Kotetsu’s hips, he started to lift him.

“Eh? Missed me? But you’ve been away for like fifteen minutes!”

Purring softly, Barnaby rubbed his cheek against Kotetsu’s and spread his partner’s legs, placing them on either side of his hips, his already painfully hard member sliding between Kotetsu's buttocks.

“Hey, hey, hey, Bunny!” Kotetsu yelped tensing up. “I don’t think it’s going to work like this.”

Ignoring the warnings, Barnaby reached under him, his fingers quickly finding the entrance into Kotetsu’s body. “Want you so bad,” he murmured pressing the fingers in.

“Barnaby!” Kotetsu growled sounding almost angry, and once again hearing his own first name made the younger man stop.

Looking up, he met Kotetsu’s gaze, seeing a stern expression of his face and gulped. Slowly he placed him down, before taking a step away. “I will try to control myself better,” he announced awkwardly.

The other man was watching him carefully. “I know it’s not your fault, but it’s not easy for me,” he said rubbing his face, his calculating eyes moving up and down Barnaby’s frame, a sigh escaping him. “Alright, come here,” he added stepping closer. In one fluid motion, he turned them around and now it was Barnaby’s turn to be pressed against a wall.

Everything in him twisted in a manner that was surprisingly pleasant, and Barnaby became suddenly dizzy, but even that wasn’t a bad sensation. Feeling the other man leaning against him made him shiver in anticipation. “Kotetsu,” he sighed contently as his partner's hand landed on his erection taking it in an unsure, slightly shaky grip.

“I’m here,” Kotetsu replied, his head coming to rest on Barnaby’s shoulder. “I’m here,” he repeated starting to nibble on the skin of his neck.

Unable to do anything else but hold onto Kotetsu’s shoulders, Barnaby found himself letting out small noises of pleasure. He realized he didn’t mind the change as much as he thought he would. More that that, his messed up by the NEXT powers brain didn’t seem to protest. Prior to this point it was directing him to be aggressive, but as Kotetsu’s actions turned more dominant, it decided to roll with it. In fact, he was pretty sure if Kotetsu turned him around and took him, he wasn’t going to even attempt stopping him. There even was a part of him that wanted for it to happen, wanted to find out how it would feel.

There was no way he could ask for it, but he could express his desire in some other way. Taking Kotetsu’s free hand in his, Barnaby started to guide it in the needed direction.

Strangely, Kotetsu caught up with what was wanted from him rather fast. His hand moved behind Barnaby, sliding down his back, finding the ring of muscles that lead into his body.

A low moan escaped Barnaby as he felt the fingers circling around his entrance and carefully slipping in. He clenched tighter into the other man, sure he could collapse without his support. One of his leg came to wrap around Kotetsu’s hip, giving his partner more space to manoeuvre.

It wasn’t enouh. Barnaby wanted more, so he called out Kotetsu’s name, hoping he could understand the prejected request without more explanation. He could feel his partner's erection pressed against his leg, knew how easy it would be for him to move closer, to hook his arm under Barnaby’s knee, to lift it and push forward.

Kotetsu did nothing of the sort. Instead, he pressed his fingers deeper, the hand moving over Barnaby’s member tightening its grip, and somehow it ended up to be enough. Teeth sinking into the offered shoulder, fingernails scraping over the slick from the running water skin of Kotetsu’s back, Barnaby was coming again, losing the grip with reality, even if for only several moments.

“Feeling better?” he heard a gentle voice whispering into his ear.

“Tired,” Barnaby confessed hiding his face into Kotetsu’s neck. It was true, by this point Barnaby was completely exhausted, both because of the lack of sleep and proper sustenance, and also because being aroused for two days turned out to be a serious physical challenge on its own.

“It must be over soon,” Kotetsu sighed, his intonation pleading.

“Can’t wait to be done with me?” Barnaby chuckled. It hurt him to think about it, so he tried to turn his words into a joke to mask his feelings.

“You look horrible, you need food and rest, not more sex,” Kotetsu replied immediately and so sincere it made Barnaby’s face heat up. Even now, forced into this intimacy by circumstances, by Barnaby’s own stupidity, he was genuinely worried about him, and it made the younger man feel incredibly humble.

“Thank you,” he said closing his eyes.

Kotetsu laughed. It was a quiet but warm sound, and Barnaby felt the vibrations of it in his partner's shoulders. It wasn’t the only thing he could feel, because even this slight movement of Kotetsu’s body brought his attention to the man’s arousal, still pressed against Barnaby’s leg.

Carefully, Barnaby reached between their bodies, but Kotetsu’s hand landed on his and pushed it away. “No need,” he said simply. “I’m not as young to be able to do it that many times in one night,” he added before Barnaby had a chance to protest, “and having you inside while not horny is... is like...” he pursed his lips. “I don’t think the comparison would be appropriate for a pillow talk. Or shower talk.”

“You know, I don’t mind switching,” Barnaby proposed moving away enough to look at him.

“Yeah, well,” Kotetsu replied, sounding now a little distant, refusing to meet his eyes. “I do. I’m not sure how I will be able to move on if we do.”

Barnaby gulped hearing it, feeling as if he was stabbed into the heart with a sharp knife. He knew this night was going to be the only one they were going to share, but knowing it and hearing a confirmation from Kotetsu were two different things, and Barnaby couldn’t believe how much it hurt.

Silence hung between them, disturbed only by the sounds of the still running water. Barnaby could tell it was getting colder, barely warmer than room temperature by now, but all of the physical sensations besides Kotetsu’s touch were duller, irrelevant.

“Would it really be that bad if we won’t?” he asked — if not because he thought he could try taking his chance, at least because he really wanted to know what Kotetsu thought about it.

The other man looked closely at him, a frown on his face. “And then what? Are we going to continue sleeping together? Or are we actually going to date?” he inquired, a doubt in his intonation.

“Does the idea of dating another man repulse you that much?”

“It’s not that, at least not after... after everything,” Kotetsu shook his head. He turned a little around, reaching for the faucet and turning the water off, the bathroom becoming suddenly way too quiet without the background noise. “Damn it, Bunny, what are you even thinking?" he exhaled sounding desperate. “Someone as talented, smart and gorgeous as you with some old, clumsy loser as me.”

Barnaby looked at him surprised. “Is that what bothers you?” he asked tilting his head, unable to believe someone who kept behaving so important, thought so little about himself in actuality.

He smiled gently to his partner. If nothing else, he at least could try reassuring him about own worth. “Old? It’s not really true. Clumsy? Most definitely. Looser? Don’t know about that,” he reached out, placing his palm on the man’s chest. “What I know is that you’re a man with the most wonderful and kind heart I’ve ever came across, someone who keeps staying true to his believes and never gives up, someone who helps people without asking for anything in return. You might not look like much on a first glance, but when you look closer, you find yourself unable to take your eyes away. At least, it was what happened to me.”

His own words made Barnaby flinch because, without realizing it, he said way too much than he intended. It was one thing to confess to Kotetsu he wanted him, it was completely another thing to admit he had feelings that ran much deeper than physical desire. Now he only hoped his partner wouldn’t be able to understand the meaning of his words.

Yet, no matter how hard he begged the unseen forces, he was out of luck, because Kotetsu blushed and hurried to look away. “Bunny, you almost sound as if you...” he stopped, glancing up again, an amazed surprise in his expression.

They were silent, both looking each-other in the eyes, and Barnaby wasn't sure if he was glad or upset Kotetsu stood close enough to be in full focus of his poor vision. Time was dragging, and Kotetsu watched him in a very particular way, as if trying to find something in his expression, answers to some unspoken questions, perhaps.

Barnaby wished for this to stop, for Kotetsu to turn away and stop looking for it, too afraid he could really find it. Not sure what else he could do to accomplish it, he leant in, shortening the distance between them. It didn’t seem Kotetsu was moving away, and it was a small victory on its own.

Before their lips could meet, a doorbell into Barnaby's apartment rang, making them both turn their heads towards the frosted glass of the shower stall.

Barnaby frowned, unsure who could it possibly be. The hospital staff had most likely noticed his absence by now, but he doubted they were going to send someone after him, without first trying giving him or Kotetsu a call. Maybe they did call, and the two of them were busy enough not to hear their phones ringing. Maybe they even called Apollon Media and Agnes sent another hero to figure out where Barnaby disappeared to.

For some reason Barnaby imagined Blue Rose appearing on his doorway and almost cringed. He was aware the girl had a crush on Kotetsu for years now, and even suspected she knew about Barnaby’s own feelings for the man. They did behave a little more rival-like towards each-other because of it, but Barnaby had never truly disliked her. Still her coming here would have been really awkward.

Not that any other hero deciding to pay him a visit was any better, neither he wanted to find Agnes, Saito or Lloyd on his doorstep for that matter.

“Oh, I guess our pizza is here!” Kotetsu said cheerfully. “Finish up here, I’ll go grab it,” he told Barnaby and, opening the stall’s door, left the shower.

***

Barnaby was honestly surprised he’d finished ordering the thing, but there it was, pizza sitting on the table in his kitchen, smelling absolutely delicious and reminding him how much exactly he was hungry. There were even several packets of mayonnaise in the box that he added for Kotetsu.

They hadn’t say a single word to each-other since Kotetsu opened the box, moving it over the granite surface of the table for Barnaby to take the first slice, tearing one of the mayonnaise packs to squeeze its content on his own slice afterwards. Somewhere deeper in the apartment a washing machine was humming faintly, cleaning the mess that was Kotetsu’s clothes and the blue hospital gallon which Barnaby decided to wash before returning back.

For now Barnaby was pretending to be extremely interested in the food, looking nowhere but the pizza in his own hand, but with the corner of his eyes, he was watching Kotetsu. The other man was starting to blur slightly at several feet away, but it was still possible to see him well enough to distinguish the expression on his face.

Kotetsu was thoughtful, and he hadn’t looked in his direction even once since they started eating. It made pretending to be disinterested in him rather pointless, because it was likely his partner wouldn’t have noticed it even if Barnaby was outright staring.

Barnaby wanted to know what he was thinking about, but he couldn't voice this kind of inquiry, not after he’d already broke into Kotetsu’s personal space to such extend.

Neither of them mentioned their conversation in the shower, choosing to pretend it hadn’t happened. Barnaby still wasn’t completely sure if Kotetsu realized what transpired between them, but if he had, he’d made a decision to ignore it. Understanding it made Barnaby uneasy and so completely alone that it hurt.

It was strange to feel lonely when Kotetsu was sitting right there, in front of him, even wearing Barnaby’s own set of spare training tee and shorts, but it felt like the greatest distance had stretched between them, a thick, tall wall Barnaby didn’t know how to cross.

“You know, I was thinking...” Kotetsu said placing his elbow on the table and placing his chin on his hand.

“Hmm?” Barnaby turned to look at him completely, his heart picking up its pace.

“Donuts,” he sighed. “I still didn’t get any and it’s been like two days.” He glanced at his wrist, as if wanting to look at the time, but his watches not there, left somewhere in the bathroom.

Barnaby stared at him in disbelief. He doubted it was really the issue occupying his partner’s mind, he simply didn’t sound sincere enough for it to be true. “There is no way you’ve been thinking about donuts,” he said, feeling a little frustrated.

Head still resting on his hand, Kotetsu turned to him. “Of course not,” he sighed. “Kinda a lot on my mind now. So why not to think about something simple, otherwise I’ll just get a headache.”

Barnaby turned his attention back to the pizza. He knew Kotetsu well enough to understand his last statement could've been the truth. Even if it wasn’t, he was still attempting to hold a resemblance of a normal conversation, and it was way more effort in trying to keep their partnership afloat than from Barnaby’s side.

The wall between them, Kotetsu was the only one who who was making an attempt to breach it.

“When this is over, I’ll get you a donut,” Barnaby promised seriously.

“Huh, just one?” Kotetsu raised an eyebrow.

“Well, someone needs to watch over your ever-growing belly,” Barnaby shrugged, allowed himself to smirk.

Kotetsu frowned at that a little overdramatically, his hand coming to scratch his stomach. “It’s not that bad,” he muttered. “Still mostly muscle, you know.”

“I know,” Barnaby agreed and, before he could think better of it, added: “It’s sexy.”

It was a huge mistake, because Kotetsu visibly blushed and turned away, and this change in his demeanor was enough to send blood rushing down Barnaby’s veins, his vision becoming clouded. “Kotetsu,” he said clenching into edge of the table. “I think I need you again,” he confessed starting to get up from the chair.

He intended to make a step towards his partner, but the kitchen started to swim before his eyes, his legs failing to hold his weight. Everything turned dark and Barnaby felt himself falling, almost hitting his head against the table.

Kotetsu was beside him immediately, catching him before he ended on the floor. “Bunny? Bunny!” he almost yelled into his ear.

Barnaby couldn’t answer, he felt too tired for it, too sick. Lacking the means to concentrate on his surrounding, he held tightly into the other man, allowing himself to be picked up and carried into the bedroom.

“I’m going to call an ambulance,” he heard Kotetsu speak and turning into his general direction saw the man reaching for his phone on the shelf above the bed.

An image of an ambulance arriving and taking him away from Kotetsu appeared in Barnaby’s mind, and it made him angry of all things. Who were they anyway, to separate him from his lover? Barnaby wasn’t going to allow it even if he would need to break the stupid medical van into pieces.

Desperate for it not to happen, he leaped on Kotetsu before he had the chance to make the call. He pulled the device out of his hands and send it flying into a wall. While not being able to see it landing, he could hear it crash, dropping onto the floor already in more than one piece.

“No,” he muttered pushing his surprised partner onto the bed. “I don’t want to be away from you. I never want to be away from you,” he was saying, his words turning into a wet sniffle at the end.

“Bunny,” Kotetsu gasped, his intonation full of worry. “You just almost fainted, what if it won’t work? What if—”

“It will work,” Barnaby cut him off. He himself felt a pang of panic at Kotetsu words, but it was nothing in comparison to a thought about being separated. “You’re the only one with whom it will work, I know it. I do, because you’re the only one I've ever wanted, the only one I will ever want, so please, don’t send me away,” he finished, unsure if he meant the ambulance or everything else.

Even if he thought it to be impossible, Kotetsu tensed even further under him, lying completely motionless for some time. “I won’t,” he whispered finally, his arms coming to wrap around Barnaby’s neck. “I promise you, I will never send you away, no matter what happens.”

Barnaby dared look Kotetsu in the eyes. He saw so much emotion in them, it almost left him breathless: care, fear, confusion, all of it mixed into something one, something strong and profound. “Kotetsu,” he whispered, trying to project everything he felt into the name. Leaning forward, he kissed the other man again, feeling him respond almost immediately.

It was a blur from there on. The little clothes they had on after the shower were being discarded hurriedly, limbs entangling together, skin coming into contact with skin. In this soft, unfocused motions, Barnaby could barely understand what was happening, concentrating only on the sensations, taste and smell.

Sometime during it, he felt Kotetsu turning them around, straddling him, and Barnaby was ready to laugh and cry at the same time when he felt the man slowly descending on him, riding him until even a thought about separation disappeared from Barnaby’s mind.

Afterwards, everything calmed down. Barnaby felt completely adrift, having just enough strength left to keep responding on Kotetsu’s lazy kiss, melting into reassuring weight of his body. Then even it moved onto the second plan, becoming less and less real. As Barnaby was slowly falling asleep, he thought he said something to Kotetsu, something very-very important. He couldn’t understand what it was, but he remembered seeing his partner’s expression, which turned almost shocked but happy and endearing at the same time.


	8. Chapter 8

Waking up from his slumber, Barnaby found himself in almost darkness. There was a sense of familiarity surrounding him, the spacial awareness telling him he was at home, in his bed. Every light in his apartment was off and it was very quiet. Listening carefully, he could hear rain, the sound of pounding into the glass water was most likely what woke him up in the first place. 

There was something solid and warm under his head, while something else was wrapped around his shoulder. A second later he understood it was an arm, and his head was resting on a shoulder. Another second it took to remember these body parts belonged to Kotetsu.

Barnaby relaxed, feeling calm and completely secure, but he didn’t dare to move. Instead, he tried to concentrate on the form next to him, able to see Kotetsu’s silhouette clearly against the light coming out of the window.

His partner wasn’t asleep, but he was relaxed, resting. His free hand was raised into the air above his face, his gaze aimed on own fingers. It also was easy to guess what exactly he was looking at — the wedding band on his ring finger.

It wasn’t the first time Barnaby had caught him in the act. At times, when Kotetsu thought no-one else was watching, he had a habit of doing it —  looking at the ring, whispering quiet words to it, as if it was a living thing. Yet, what exactly he talked to it about, was something only Kotetsu knew.

At first Barnaby had felt a little jealous but, as the time passed, the feeling disappeared, he’d made peace with it. He knew Kotetsu was never going to stop loving his late wife, the mother of his only child, the same way he himself was never going to stop loving his parents. It were parts of their lives, long lost parts, but irreplaceable nonetheless.

Still, he wondered what was going through Kotetsu's mind now, whether or not he was silently asking forgiveness for sharing a night with another, or looking for an advice he knew he wasn’t going to get.

“Does it still hurt?” Barnaby inquired quietly.

He wasn’t sure why out of all question that were filling his mind he chose this one. He didn’t even know why he dared to voice it, only that one moment he was pondering if he had any right to know, and the next moment the words were out of his mouth.

Kotetsu tensed next to him. “Oh, you woke up,” he said, his left hand falling back onto the mattress. “Nah, I just scratched my thumb somewhere, don’t worry about it,” he faked a chuckle.

Raising to sit on the bed, Barnaby looked at him seriously. “It wasn’t a scratch you were looking at, neither it was what I asked about. I don’t demand an answer from you, but could you at least not lie to me?”

In the dimness of the bedroom, Barnaby was still able to see Kotetsu’s face, the little light coming from outside the window reflecting in his eyes, making him look sincere. “Bunny,” he sighed. “Wouldn’t you feel weird discussing it now?”

“Not really,” Barnaby shook his head. “Plus, you never discuss it in any other circumstances either,” he pointed out. “Would’ve she been upset if she knew?”

“Who, Tomoe?” Kotetsu chuckled and this time it was difficult to judge if it was a pretence or an honest reaction, maybe both. “She’d be upset, yes, but not because what you think,” he smiled, the intonation of his voice becoming a little warmer. “If she’s watching over me from somewhere beyond, she’s probably really annoyed I’ve waited eight years.”

“Alright, now I’m a little creeped out,” Barnaby responded. “I really hope neither her, nor my parents were watching this,” he knew it was a ridiculous notion, but he shivered nonetheless.

Kotetsu laughed softly before falling silent again, staring distantly at the tall ceiling.

Barnaby thought it was the end of their conversation. In the end it was what Kotetsu had always done, made jokes out of things bothering him to close the topic.

“No, it doesn’t,” he spoke again to Barnaby’s complete surprise, sounding mellow now. “Don’t get me wrong, I still miss her, neither I ever want to take the ring off, but it doesn’t hurt anymore. It frightened me at first, when the pain stopped, but then I understood it didn’t mean I was going to forget her. It just meant I could look back and remember the good things about our time together.” He paused taking a deep breath and turning to look at Barnaby. “Ah, I just sound bothersome now.”

“Not at all,” Barnaby replied. He regretted he got up, wishing he could still be lying on Kotetsu’s shoulder, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Instead, he reached for Kotetsu’s hand and pulled it closer to himself, examining the plain band of silver. “The ring and your feelings for your wife are precious to you, and I would never want to it to be taken from you, not by me, not by anyone else. Besides,” he added smiling, “even from so little I’ve heard about her, she made an impression of being a wonderful woman, supporting you over the years. For that I deeply respect her.”

Kotetsu watched him closely. He was calm at first, but then his lips turned into a thin line, his body trembled. “How are you not even slightly embarrassed saying these things?” he asked, hiding his face into the palms of his free hand, a quiet sobbing sound following his words.

“Kotetsu?” Barnaby called him in concern.

“Idiot,” Kotetsu retorted through his tears. He grabbed Barnaby by the arm and pulled him down, and it was so unexpected, Barnaby ended up falling onto him completely, his nose brushing the stubble of Kotetsu’s cheek. “How did I even end up with this cranky-ass partner who first blurts out he loves me and, a few hours later, starts asking about my wife?”

Barnaby’s eyes flew wide, Kotetsu’s words startling him. “I really said it, didn’t I?” he gulped. “I thought it was a dream.”

“Dream my ass!” Kotetsu exhaled, his own face coming to rest onto the crook of Barnaby’s neck, wet against his skin. “What am I supposed to do now?” he cried. “You’re young, with whole life ahead, yet you decide to ask for my heart. But, no matter how big you claim it is, it’s all cracked and covered in cobwebs.”

Embracing the other man tight, Barnaby breathed slowly, feeling he was about to join his partner for another round of tear-shedding. From the very beginning he had little hope Kotetsu would answer his feelings, but he was so wrong about the reasons. 

Even if Kotetsu cared he was a man, it wasn't as great of an issue. What truly scared him was being unworthy and becoming a nuisance, enough for Barnaby to get tired of him one day, shatter his heart completely. Combining all these reasons together came up to a heavy burden to carry.

“I know, but I want it still,” he whispered, placing a kiss against the shell of Kotetsu’s ear. “And I will treasure it, because it’s very precious to me.”

Barnaby thought his partner was at a loss of words because he repeated himself again. “Idiot,” he groaned and moved to cup Barnaby’s head, turning it to face him, connecting their lips together.

It was wet and messy and desperate, but it was the most wonderful kiss they’d shared so far. Heat was starting to spread down Barnaby’s body once again, but unlike all previous times they’d done it, this was completely different. There was no haze blanketing his mind, his thoughts clear, belonging to him . Yet, it didn’t make Barnaby’s desire any less severe.

He leaned in further, his newly-awoken erection pressing into Kotetsu’s hip, his partner's responding one pressing into his. He heard Kotetsu groan, and next moment he was flipped over, pressed against his own bed with the other man on top of him.

“Kotetsu,” he called as his partner moved from his lips and down to kiss his neck. He didn’t wish to stop, but there was something he thought Kotetsu needed to know. “I think my affliction worn off by now. I don’t require this.”

“Do you  _ want _ it?” Kotetsu asked, his hands rubbing circles down Barnaby’s chest, thumbs flicking over his nipples, before descending down to his stomach.

“More than anything,” Barnaby replied truthfully.

“Then I’m not stopping.”

Hastily, he reached for the bottle of lubrication and the box of condoms, which still laid next to one of the pillows, before repositioning himself to sit between Barnaby’s legs, pushing them apart. 

Feeling it, Barnaby found himself grinning in anticipation. He mewled as Kotetsu’s hand moved between their bodies, slick fingers tracing the shaft of his erection and stroking him for some time, turning him into a wriggling mess.

All too soon, the touch disappeared, the lack of it tearing a whine of protest from the younger man, but it wasn't absent for long. Instead, the hand moved beneath Barnaby, making him gasp as it reached another sensitive part of his body.

“Ok?” Kotetsu asked, almost whispering, his fingers pressing softly in, but not yet breaching.

It was probably the strangest of his reactions this night, but Barnbay laughed, short and happily. He wanted this, but not only because he was curious — after what the other man had told him in the shower, the implications of his question were enormous. “Please,” he responded, which wasn't really begging, his voice too firm.

There was an embarrassing sound torn from his lips as Kotetsu’s fingers entered him, and Barnaby melted into the touch, grabbing tighter into his partner's shoulders, holding him if not for his life, at least for his sanity. He’d heard the saying about toes curling from a strong sensation, but now he learned how much basis the expression had.

“More,” he demanded not caring he sounded greedy, not caring what impression his words were going to make. There was no-one in his bedroom he required to make an impression on, both of them knowing each-other too well for it, their strengths and their weaknesses, good and bad.

Kotetsu gazed into his eyes. “If is that what you want,” he whispered. In one fluid motion, he tore the wrapper of the condom and rolled down his length. His hand came to hook under Barnaby’s knee, raising one of his legs, every his movement sure, precise without even a hint of hesitation.

Barnaby trembled feeling him push. It burnt a little, and the physical sensation was strange, but it wasn’t what mattered. What did matter was that Kotetsu was in him, moving slow and careful, and for the first time Barnaby felt as if everything in his life had finally made sense. There was no logic behind the though, merely a spur of the moment sentiment, but it didn’t make it any less valuable.

And then even illogical thoughts failed to form in his head, because Kotetsu picked his pace, and the only thing Barnaby could do was to hold onto his shoulders, nails digging into the damp skin.

He was able to feel everything so much sharper like this, every point of contact between them: Kotetsu’s lips against his cheek, his warm breath, his hips rubbing against the inner thighs of Barnaby’s legs, each touch sending electric sparks down his spine.

“More,” he demanded and heard Kotetsu huff.

“Do you even know what you’re asking for?”

“Yes,” Barnaby replied. He lied about it, because honestly he had no idea. He knew that he  _ wanted _ and wanted more of  _ everything _ . He wanted to claim Kotetsu as his and wanted Kotetsu to claim him. He wanted to be taken, to the point he could speak or think no more, so that one day Kotetsu would  _ ask _ him to do the same to him.

“Bunny,” Kotetsu groaned, sounding out of breath and his tone so low, Barnaby could barely recognize it. “I must tell you... I’ve been holding out the entire night,” he paused pressing a short kiss on Barnaby’s lips. “If I’m going to move any faster, I’m really not going to last.”

“Neither do I,” Barnaby grinned.

Kotetsu moved away and almost stopped, and Barnaby wanted to complain, because whatever he was asking for, this wasn’t it.

The hand which was holding him under the knee pushed his leg even further, bringing it almost to his chest and Barnaby fixed his gaze with Kotetsu, looking into the amber-colored eyes, drowning in the depth of emotions reflected in them.

And then the entire weight of Kotetsu’s body came down with force, and Barnaby almost screamed. Kotetsu pushed once, twice and he thought they were no longer inside his apartment, because it almost seemed he could see stars behind the shape of his partner's head.

It was unclear which of them was first to finish, everything becoming unfocused. Kotetsu collapsed on him, yet even in the aftershock he didn’t stop covering his face with kisses. His hands wrapped around Barnaby completely, and he held him tight, repeating the younger man's nickname over and over between each touch of lips.

“I’m exhausted,” Kotetsu grinned some time later as both of them seemed to calm down enough to be capable of cognitive process.

Barnaby hummed in agreement, rubbing his cheek against his. “What time is it?”

“Hell if I knew,” the other man sighed. “Someone broke my phone,” he added in an intonation that told Barnaby he wasn’t really upset at him about it. “Sometime after midnight, I guess.”

Carefully, Kotetsu rolled off him, moving away to discard the used condom, picking up a small towel which they’d moved to bed some time ago, making a quick job of cleaning them both.

As he returned to lay beside Barnaby, his hand found its way to the blond hair, caressing them. “You should get some rest now,” he proposed softly. There was warmth in his eyes, a quiet kind of amazement.

“Mhmm,” Barnaby agreed. He wanted to stay awake for a little longer, but felt like arguing with Kotetsu was a waste of effort. Leaning even closer, he placed his head on his partner's shoulder, his eyes closing on their own accord.

Already half-adrift from the reality, Barnaby smiled again. “Hey Kotetsu,” he called.

“Mmm?” the other man responded sounding sleepy too.

There were many unexpected things Barnaby had told him this night, many things he’d confessed which would probably make him embarrassed in the morning, unsure where this night will lead them, not knowing what Kotetsu will decide in the end. Yet, this one felt like something he would be ashamed of the most. “No matter what happens, please don’t stop calling me Bunny.”

A quiet laughter was a response to him. “I’ve never had it in my plans.”

***

Barnaby didn’t have dreams as he slept. At least he didn’t remember any of them in the morning, when he opened his eyes to a brightly lit bedroom.

The room was a little chilly. Heavy, gray clouds were covering the sky making Barnaby ponder if it was still drizzling outside. Looking out of the window made him want to huddle into the blankets and sleep for another hour or five.

He felt a little sick, almost like hangover, his head pounding. He tried to recollect the events of the previous night, wondering if he went drinking with someone. Yet, the memories that returned to him had no alcohol involved. Instead, he remembered Kotetsu bringing him home, them undressing, them...

Lying completely still, Barnaby blushed, a dose of endorphins released into his system by the memory making him smile. Turning around, he reached for the other side of the bed, and his smile faded as he found it empty. 

Out of habit, he reached for his glasses but couldn’t find them in their usual spot. Frowning, he carefully moved the blankets out of the way and sat up, the movement making him wince at the soreness in his body. That brought a few other memories back, and the heat in his cheeks intensified.

The bedroom was blurry without anything to improve his vision, and Barnaby could barely see past his own mattress. He still didn’t remember where he’d left his glasses, so he forced himself to stand up, approach the wardrobe to pull a spare set out of one of the drawers. He put them on, his eyesight returning to it’s sharpness, allowing him to look around.

His place looked almost normal, no clothes thrown around the floor, no trash, and he realized Kotetsu must’ve tidied it up a little. The only thing out of place was a dent in a wall, a deep scratch left by Kotetsu’s cellphone which Barnaby had thrown there the night before. It was the second after the sensations in his body reminder about last night being real, not a figment of Barnaby’s imagination.

The bathroom was empty too. The blue set of clothes from the hospital was laying on a counter next to the sink, clean and carefully folded, but otherwise the room looked completely unassuming.

Another reminder was found in the living room. As he entered the spacious area, Barnaby’s eyes immediately fell on a pair of blue slippers lying in the middle of it, which solved the mystery of disappeared footwear once and for all.

The pizza box was still on the table in the kitchen, half of the pizza uneaten inside, yet after an entire night out of the fridge and not even covered, Barnaby was sure it was no longer edible. No matter how much he hated wasting food, he gathered it up and dropped into trash, before going to collect every empty plastic wrapper from mayonnaise Kotetsu had left scattered over the table surface.

As he finished cleaning, he opened the fridge, extracting a cold bottle of water, opening it and drinking in long, greedy gulps.

Kotetsu wasn’t here. He was nowhere in Barnaby’s apartment. He’d left. Woke up before Barnaby and left.

Something dark and unpleasant settled on the pit of his stomach, and Barnaby found himself biting his lower lip. He did account the possibility of having to forget the night he shared with the other man, but he couldn’t believe it would be like this, would’ve never guessed Kotetsu was capable of leaving in the morning without as much as saying goodbye. At least not after every word spoken last night, the feelings in his partner's voice seeming so honest.

On another hand, Barnaby was safe, feeling not even a trace of the madness which had been consuming him for the last few days. Kotetsu had saved him and now needed some space, some time alone. It was a reasonable though, and his disappearance could’ve meant nothing.

Barnaby sighed, leaning on the fridge. Instantly, he almost jumped away from it, because his skin came into a contact with the cold steel, reminding him he was still completely nude. Looking down at himself, he also understood he needed a shower. Then, after all of was going to be done, he could allow himself to think.

His time in the bathroom was short, the water barely warm, which helped him to be efficient, the headache he woke up with leaving him. Standing under the spray of water brought back even more memories, and he couldn’t decide if they were pleasant or painful, so he pushed them away.

His bathrobe felt fluffy, comfortable, but as he left the bedroom, finding himself in the waste space of the living room, even that comfort wasn’t enouh to stop him from feeling empty. Unsure what to do with himself, he climbed onto his chair, slumping against it, his gaze aimed at the black screen of his television.

He guessed a few moments had passed of him sitting there, his mind completely blank, but finally everything started to catch up with him, emotions leashing out, making him want to scream and huddle in a dark corner at the same time. He hoped desperately, he wasn’t going to start crying again because, to tell the truth, he was really tired of it, having shed more tears in the last two days than in the previous twenty years.

Or maybe he could allow himself to do it one last time, before placing a cold mask in place of his face, returning to his normal life. It would take a lot of effort to play it cool at work, where he would have to see his partner almost daily, but he hoped that one day they would be able to look each-other in the eyes with no tension.

He heard the door into his apartment sliding open and turned his head, seeing Kotetsu walking in, so casual that one could think he lived here. There was a large brown paper bag in his hand, a baguette sticking out if it.

Whistling a quiet melody, Kotetsu didn’t seem to notice him at first. Carefully placing the bag on the floor next to the entrance, he started to take off his shoes and his brown jacket, revealing one of Barnaby’s own black shirts underneath, which sat more tightly on Kotetsu’s slightly bulkier torso. 

Finishing with this task, the jacket hung in the closet, Kotetsu picked the groceries again, stepping further into the apartment. His eyes settled on Barnaby and he looked spooked for a moment. “Bunny, you’re awake,” he stated a rather obvious fact. His face went though several expressions as he kept looking at the younger man, settling finally into a frown. “Are you crying again?”

“No,” Barnaby responded. At least he didn’t think he was, unless it happened somehow without him noticing. “I thought you left,” he added as a matter of fact, trying to sound calm.

Yet, calm was the last thing he was feeling. He wanted to run to Kotetsu and hug him and laugh at his own stupidity, and also because he was as happy as a dog whose human just returned from a weekend-long trip.

Of course, he didn’t do any of these things, the starting to normalize levels of hormones in his body reminding him about such things as dignity and self-respect. Moreover Kotetsu returning to his home, leaving obviously to only get them something to eat, didn’t mean they were suddenly in a romantic relationship. No matter what they’d ended saying to each-other, there’d been absolutely no promises made.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Kotetsu groaned scratching the back of his head with the hand not occupied by the bag. “I should've left a note or something, just you were out cold, and I didn't think you’d wake up before I return.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Barnaby shook his head. His heart was pounding, and he wanted to grin, but as he was able to control himself better, he only offered a tired smile. “Apologizing to me is the last thing you need to do.”

Kotetsu smiled back, and for a second Barnaby could see the same warmth in his eyes he’d seen last night. “Alright,” he turned around, so sharp that Barnaby got an impression he wanted to hide it. “I’ve got eggs and bacon and cheese, so I’ll go figure something for breakfast,” he said cheerfully, taking a step towards the kitchen.

Barnaby got up from the chair, following him. “I’ll go too,” he nodded. “Can’t allow you to accidentally burn my place down.”

***

There were three of them sitting in the kitchen: Barnaby, Kotetsu and a massive gray creature with big floppy ears, tusks and a long trunk. One of them Kotetsu was pointedly ignoring.

The older man was fussing around the stove, a smell of fried bacon reaching Barnaby’s nose. But, as his nerves was slowly starting to get better of him, he found himself unable to think about food just yet.

Absent mindedly, he was looking at the mug of coffee on the table before him, his index finger moving around its rim in shaky half-circles, but the gesture was doing little to calm him down. “Kotetsu...” he called his partner quietly.

“We need stop by the hospital sometime soon,” Kotetsu said before Barnaby could finish whatever question was forming in his mind. “Agnes had already found a way to yell at me this morning,” he chuckled, and Barnaby needed to hand it to the other man, he found a courage to laugh about Agnes’ rage. “They actually covered out breakout, but it would be appropriate to go apologize to the doctors in person.”

“I guess,” Barnaby agreed, even if he didn’t really want to be agreeing with it. In fact, he would’ve lived happily for the rest of his life without as much as stepping a foot inside the place.

What he really needed to do was inserting himself into the crossfire between Agnes, Lloyds and Kotetsu, because otherwise his partner was going to take all the blame again, and it wasn’t something Barnaby was going to allow this time.

But Barnaby didn’t want to make any plans on the matter just yet, only wanting to talk to his partner without him interrupting.

If the last night went any different, he would’ve been glad to have a casual conversation with Kotetsu, considering it a first step in a long process of bringing their relationship back to where it’d been before the incident. Now Barnaby wasn’t so sure.

What had started as only a mean of saving his life, had ended on a completely different note. Their last time hadn’t been something they were forced into. There hadn’t been any need in it, and yet Kotetsu had chosen to do it, and for the first time since Barnaby had discovered his attraction, he was uncertain about his chances.

“Kotetsu...” he tried again.

“Do you want milk in your scrambled eggs, by the way?” Kotetsu cut Barnaby off once again, and this time it left no doubt in the younger man’s mind he was doing it on purpose.

“It would be called omelette with milk, not scrambled eggs,” he corrected.

Kotetsu huffed. While barnaby couldn’t see his face, he could imagine him pout. “That’s not the point,” he said waving the spatula in his hand.

Barnaby’s head dropped onto the table surface. “Omelette. I would prefer omelette.” 

It was the worst feeling. While not knowing what to expect gave Barnaby hope there could be something more between them, it also left him almost shaking with nervousness. If he knew for sure Kotetsu didn’t want him, he could’ve been able to start making plans of what to do next. Instead, he was left in the dark and he really didn’t like it.

Unable to take it any longer, he stood up from his spot. Slowly but surely, he approached Kotetsu, and before his partner could react in any way, wrapped his arms around the man’s waist.

Kotetsu tensed immediately, standing completely still, not a single muscle in his body moving.

It felt like long time passed before either of them spoke, the hissing of the frying eggs on the stove the only sound in the kitchen. Barnaby could feel Kotetsu’s chest expanding and contacting, his breathing deep and even.

“Bunny, you...” Kotetsu said finally, but didn’t finish.

“I want to know,” Barnaby told him, his cheek coming to rest on Kotetsu’s shoulder. “Yes or no?” He didn’t specify what he meant, he didn't think he needed to.

“You aren’t going to give me time to think, are you?”

“You’ll just come up with a hundred more excuses, and I will have to find ways to counter them,” Barnaby chuckled. It was a little forced and more nervous than anything else. Barnaby’s heart was pounding so hard in his chest, that there wasn’t a single way Kotetsu didn’t notice it.

“Annoyed I might add more work to your tight schedule?” the other man hummed.

“Mmm, you always do that."

Another pause, Kotetsu moved his hand, but only to remove the pan from the hot pad of the stove.  “I...” he began, “I really thought it wasn’t you talking last night.”

“And yet, you decided to open to me as much as I opened to you,” Barnaby pointed out. He didn't know how the same exact thought could be surprising and expected at the same time, but Kotetsu managed to expand his horizons once again.

“Well, I’m famous for acting before thinking,” Kotetsu shrugged with a sigh.

“More like infamous,” Barnaby replied, because apparently taking every chance to tease him was never going to be a matter of change. If nothing else, it was reassuring.

Thankfully, Kotetsu had learned to accept it with grace over time, and instead of stomping and yelling his way out of the argument, he only laughed. “So... What should we do, Bunny?”

“What are your instincts are telling you?

Kotetsu sighed loudly. To Barnaby’s surprise, he relaxed and leaning into the embrace. “Instincts, huh?” His hand rose to his stomach and landed to cover Barnaby’s, his thumb starting to stroke it, almost bringing the younger man’s heart into an overload. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Barnaby almost stopped breathing. Kotetsu’s words of apology was not a good sign, it was almost a refusal, yet he continued to touch him in a gentle manner, and if this wasn’t a definition of mixed signals, Barnaby wasn’t sure what else could qualify. “Is... is that a no?”

“Yeah,” Kotetsu exhaled slowly. “It’s a no. For now, at least.”

Barnaby gulped, fighting shudders that almost started running down his body. Slowly, he withdrew from the man, his hands dropping. “I see,” he nodded.

“Aggh!” Kotetsu groaned, and in comparison to their previous conversation, it was such a loud sound that it startled Barnaby. “What I mean, is that this wasn’t suppose to be like this,” he continued. “I know it might sound old-fashioned, but I am an old-fashioned guy, and you’d have to deal with it. There should’ve been steps, you know.”

Barnaby blinked, honestly unable to understand what his partner meant. “Steps?” he asked confused.

Kotetsu moved a little away, freeing enough space to turn around, face Barnaby. “Well, yeah, dummy,” he nodded. “Like going out to a dinner, and a movie,” he started to explain, gesticulating wildly in a manner that probably, in his opinion, represented the mentioned activities, but in reality looked more like random flailing. “Sitting on a couch and then stretching, so that an arm would accidentally fall on a shoulder. That sort of things!”

Barnaby stared at him. He stared through the entire explanation and then some more, until he was able to to take it no longer. Unexpected even to himself, he started to laugh, so soundly that tears appeared in his eyes. “Oh, Kotetsu,” he grinned happily, the meaning of his partner’s words sinking in. Reaching for the other man again, he placed his hands on both sides of his head. “If that is what you want, of course we can do it.”

“Alright,” Kotetsu responded pursing his lips, which together with raised eyebrows made him look like a cute duckling. “But, umm, do you think we could eat breakfast now?”

Glancing behind his partner, Barnaby could still see an entire pan full of omelette and bacon, and the idea of sharing a meal with Kotetsu didn’t seem all too bad after all. “Yeah, let’s do it too,” he nodded.

Barnaby had his answer. Perhaps it was not completely positive yet, one night hadn’t made them a couple. At the same time, he couldn’t say it didn’t change anything. Sometime later, they were going to go on a date and then watch a movie together, and Barnaby would even allow Kotetsu to stretch in a way that would allow him to accidentally drop an arm over his shoulder.

But for now, for now there were going to enjoy that breakfast and each-other’s company, and it was more than enough.

**Epilogue**

Alex was sure his hiding spot was perfect, a skeleton of a half-destroyed building providing enough cover to stay unseen. From his position he could see a good portion of the field. Wrecked truck was smoking on a cracked concrete underneath him, a few box-shaped constructions were not tall enough to obstruct his view.

Setting up his sniper rifle, he looked through the scope, spotting a member of the opposition, blue triangle and a name tag glowing above their head.

“Aha, gotcha,” he grinned, aiming.

A loud noise came from behind him, and he was almost pushed over the ledge of a balcony he sat on. Surprised, he turned around seeing a female figure in a black jumpsuit appearing from the smoke, two belts lined with grenades crossing her chest. Almost immediately a popup message before Alex’ eyes indicated an enemy soldier being killed.

“They were behind me, weren’t they?” Alex asked getting up.

“Obviously,” the figure said, her amused voice belonging to Namila, even if the face of her avatar did not. “But don’t worry, the princess came to save her handsome prince.”

“Thanks,” Alex grinned

Next moment he saw his girlfriend raising an arm, a pistol in her hand. It almost looked as if she was aiming at him and Alex flinched. She fired several shots, and something behind Alex exploded again. Turning around, he noticed another blue player falling four stories from the same balcony Alex was sure only he knew about.

“You’re so bad at this,” Namila sighed a little dramatically.

“Hey,” Alex frowned, placing his hands on his hips, “You know I’m not fond of shooters.” 

“Want to get out and go over to my place then?” she proposed without skipping a beat.

“Are you parents home right now?”

“Yeah, they are. We’re going to set up a tree actually, I thought it would be good if you were here for it.”

It’d been two months since the accident with the NEXT which almost killed Alex. Since then his relationship with Namila’s parents... it wasn’t what it used to. At first they almost outright banned the two from seeing each-other outside of school, and it took weeks of long arguments, negotiations and heart-to-heart conversations before the situation could move from a dead spot.

Slowly, they started to come to an acceptance of their relationship and, two weeks prior, the ban had been lifted. There was still a lot of tension between them, and Alex was sure it was going to take a long time before it could change, but it was a huge step.

“Sure, I’ll tell my parents and will be at your place in half an hour,” he proposed, taking a step closer, wishing the game was realistic enough he could take Namila's hand.

A blue player appeared out of nowhere, he jumped towards the two, an assault rifle in his hand. Gunshots followed and, as they stood too close to each-other, the array of bullets hit both of them at the same time, bringing their hit points to zero.

“Well, that was annoying,” Alex muttered as they were kicked out into the lobby, a timer until they could respawn starting to count thirty seconds. Unlike the battleground, it was almost empty, dark-blue walls difficult to separate from the same-colored floor. A faintly glowing grid was running down their surfaces, giving the place a little techno look, but Alex though the game designers could’ve done a better job.

“I blame you for distracting me,” Namila grinned. “But we were going to leave anyway, so it doesn't matter.”

Alex nodded. “So, I’ll see you in a few then?”

“Sure thing,” she responded, moving her hand to her face, a white screen appearing over her wrist. She pressed a few buttons, starting to logout, and Alex followed her example.

***

He knew he wasn’t required to bring anything with him, but instead of going straight to Namila’s house, Alex found himself standing in front of a supermarket.

The place was busy, too many people shopping in preparation for the upcoming holidays. Every glass case around the store was stuffed with decorations, starting from penoplast snowmen and cardboard reindeers and ending with beautifully painted glass ornaments of stars and snowflakes. Simply looking at it all was filling Alex with sort of a childish glee, brightening his mood.

On top of it, the air outside smelt frosty. The sky was covered in heavy clouds, and it seemed it was going to snow soon. The area Sternbild was situated in was hardly getting more that a drizzle during winters, and having the streets blanketed in white for Christmas was a rare gift of nature.

The inside of the building was warm, inviting. Instead of going directly towards the pastry section, where he intended to buy a pie, Alex though he could make a quick look around, perhaps find something good enough to be a gift.

The section with decorations he walked by was large, occupying four aisles. No matter how much he wanted to stare at all of the things displayed here, he knew he wouldn’t find any suitable presents. He almost passed it completely, but stopped midway, spotting someone familiar next to the ornaments. Two familiar people, to be more precise.

“How about green ones?” the man in a heavy brown coat and a black and white cap was asking, picking one of the boxes.

“The tree is green, it will be lost on it,” the other man replied. He was dressed rather stylish. His coat was long, almost to his knees, dark maroon in color. It was matching with a silky black scarf around his neck, which Alex couldn’t decide was practical or purely decorative. “You already picked red ones, so gold or silver would go perfectly with them.”

“I don’t like either of these,” the first one complained.

“Then we could pick a white tree, so red and green would work against its branches.”

“White tree? What kind of abomination is that?” the first protested, sounding scandalized.

“I don’t understand,” the second one sighed, crossing his arms. “You asked me to help you pick the decorations, yet you haven't yet agreed to anything I advised.”

Barnaby and Wild Tiger were standing in the middle of an aisle, at a supermarket in Bronze, picking tree ornaments. And if that alone didn’t seem bizarre, they were also arguing like an old married couple over it.

Then it hit Alex, that perhaps it wasn’t as strange of an occurrence as one might think. No-one had explained to him how the NEXT powers he was affected with worked, but Alex wasn’t a fool. He realized he started to feel better after spending a night with his girlfriend. He’d also saw Tiger the night before Barnaby had disappeared from the hospital, and it wasn’t difficult to put two and two together.

He smiled smirked at the idea, but not wishing to intrude, he decided to leave. He almost turned around, but noticed Barnaby looking at him, a friendly kind of smile on his face.

A little surprised he was even recognized, Alex greeted him with a nod. “Morning.”

Immediately, Tiger dropped the box of decorations back onto the shelf and turned around, his hands hiding behind his back, as if he was doing something shady. It was a funny reaction, but Alex understood it. There were no major scandals on the news, no grand announcements, at least no more than usual. It meant whatever was going on between the two, they were trying to keep it a secret. 

“H... hey...” Tiger greeted, the expression of his face telling Alex the man was trying to remember him.

“Mornin,  _ Alex _ ,” Barnaby responded. Saying his name out loud was obviously a mean of refreshing Tiger’s memory, because Alex was practically able to see a lightbulb flashing above the older hero’s head. Still, it left him feel special. “How have you been?”

“Good, I suppose,” Alex said. If he'd been asked this question last month, the answer might’ve been a lie, but now he didn’t have to pretend.

They talked for a moment. It wasn’t really an in-depth conversation one might have with a friend, rather a polite exchange of pleasantries between acquaintances. Still, not many people could tell heroes knew them by names, so it was something.

Before Alex left, Barnaby offered him another smile, an innocent looking one. “Oh, one last thing. You didn’t see me here.”

Alex pondered if it was appropriate to roll his eyes. It was doubtful Barnaby didn’t know that behaving suspiciously made him look even more guilty. His request was practically translating to ‘I totally date my partner, and I put no effort in pretending it to be otherwise’.

“See who?” Alex shrugged nonetheless. On the corner of his eyes, he saw Tiger blush and had to admit it was sort of a sweet reaction coming from a grown man. “Anyway, I should run now. Have good holidays.”

A smirk on Barnaby’s face told Alex it was most definitely their intent. “You too.”

Finally saying his goodbye, Alex left the heroes to their decorations hunt, sure his holidays were going to be good.

What started like a complete misery for him, something he was sure he was going to regret for the rest of his life, ended on a much brighter note. He still had a girlfriend he loved and who loved him, parents who were making an effort in understanding them, decent grades at school and now a couple of friendly neighborhood heroes who might not have turned into his buddies, but deemed him worthy of a brief conversation in a store.

And all of it was more than enough to be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh... One last though. I just found the Hero Gossip interview translations on Tumblr. As a person extremely picky about own fics being as close to canon as possible, I want to return back and redline Barnaby never experiencing romantic attraction to people before.  
> It's not really going to have any effect on the story per se, almost none really, but as I said, I'm super picky about things like that and it bugs me.
> 
> As a side note, Barnaby's crush during first year of Hero Academy was mentioned in the T&B comic anthology, but I wasn't sure how canon the collection is... because if that was canon, Kaede asking Barnaby if he likes her dad also canon... and Barnaby buying Kotetsu red roses when he signed out from the hospital after the fight with H-01... and Nathan saying Barnaby and Karina are in a similar position when it comes to Kotetsu... ... .. Umm... 
> 
> As another side note. Wow, I guessed Barnaby has near-sighted correctly xD


End file.
